China encourages overseas firms and Hong Kong-listed domestic companies to go public in Chinese mainland market, said top securities regulator Shang Fulin on Saturday, as the country seek to enlarge the capacity of its capital market.

"We wish they could choose to get listed in our A share market." said Shang. "We also support existing companies to boost its scale through assets regrouping and integration."

Sources with the Shanghai Stock Exchange said the bourse was considering introducing international firms that performs well in China.

China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) will continue to absorb large and well-performing firms into the country's stock market, said Shang.

China has sped up the listing of large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) mainly in oil and chemicals, telecommunications, transportation and metallurgy industries in past few years, which not only diversified the ownership of SOEs but also gave a de factor boost to mainland bourse.

Acknowledging that "China's existing capital market needs further improvements," Shang rated the establishment of a multi-tier capital market as one of the urgent tasks in current economic development.

(People's Daily, 2 Dec 2007)