Small investors are to be given a bigger say in the decisions of the companies they invest in.
The move comes as part of a raft of new guidelines issued by the China Securities Regulatory Commission designed to better protect investors' interests.
It follows, among other issues, the debacle over the D'Long Group, once the country's largest privately-owned enterprise, with 177 subsidiaries involved in industries from tomato paste to concrete.
According to a draft document posted on its website, the CSRC said that public shareholders of listed firms should actively participate in voting about major corporate decisions.
Issues such as new share sales, convertible bond issuance, major asset restructuring and overseas listing of subsidiaries would have to be approved by more than half the public investors attending a vote, the document said.
Meanwhile the CSRC was also reported to be working on new rules that would tighten corporate governance and prod profit-making companies into paying dividends to attract investors into the A-share market.
Companies failing to pay dividends could face new hurdles planning secondary issues, the West China City Daily said, adding that the initiative appeared to be in line with the Shanghai stock exchange's plan to introduce a dividend-based index last year.
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