Mainland officials claim Y2K problems solved in key sectors

The People's Bank of China has spent 10 billion yuan (about HK$9.3 billion) to help safeguard the mainland's banking system against the Y2K bug.

However, the central bank yesterday admitted bank runs occurred in two rural areas while tests on preparedness were going on, the central bank said yesterday.

Chen Jing of the central bank, one of five senior officials from various departments of the government speaking at a news conference to reassure the public that lights will go on, said telephones and aircraft would work at the start of the next millennium.

Zhang Qi, of the Ministry of Information Industry, said: 'Major problems have been solved.' 'We are fully confident that there will be no major damage to the 18 major industries and sectors of the economy,' said Ms Zhang, who heads an inter-government committee in charge of combatting the bug.

Among the major industries are aviation, power, banking, telecommunications, water and gas, and transport.

'But we feel a great sense of pressure,' Ms Zhang said. 'The time is approaching. We cannot be 100 per cent sure of a safe transition.' Commerce, trade, medicine, health care and public services lagged behind, with some inland areas not paying adequate attention to the problem, in part because they were less computer-dependent than richer coastal areas, she said.

The central bank has spent 10 billion yuan on fighting the bug, including test runs in June, July and September involving one million people and 294,000 bank branches in more than 95 per cent of the country. The test also involved the futures, securities and insurance industries.