CRI听力:China makes breakthroughs in SOEs reform in 2016: official

Re-aligning state-owned companies has been one of the priorities for the Chinese government in its drive to make the country's economy more market-oriented.

The agency in charge of China's state-owned enterprises (SOE) is suggesting that it is pleased with the results it has been able to produce this past year in reforming the SOE system.

Xiao Yaqing, head of the State Council's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration, has provided an update to the media on their progress through 2016 on the sidelines of this year's National People's Congress' (NPC) annual session.

"Regarding the reform on SOEs administered by the central government, we carried out ten pilot reform programs on the group level early last year. Then we pressed ahead with programs on the second and third-tier, as well as grassroots subsidiaries of the SOEs. Nationwide, provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions were all very enthusiastic about implementing reforms and they took a down-to-earth approach," said Xiao.

Xiao says a total of 760 specific plans were rolled out and that pilot programs were carried out in over 200 different SOEs.

He says the moves were not only to make advancements but also to resolve lingering problems.

"As reforms were unfolding, we pushed forward the reorganization of the central SOEs to optimize resource distribution. The reorganization of ten central SOEs, represented by the Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation, has not only helped cut their excessive capacity but also helped improve their quality and efficiency. The structure has been optimized," said Xiao.

One of the highlights in 2016 was the merger of Chinese steel giants Baosteel and Wuhan Iron and Steel, creating the China Baowu Steel Group.

This merger, combined with a stronger performance by SOEs' run on a regional level, helped return the overall SOE sector back to profitability in 2016 after a 6.7% drop through 2015.

While centrally-administered SOEs struggled somewhat in 2016, stats so far this year are pointing to an early turnaround.

State companies managed by the central government have seen their profits through the first two months increase by over 29% year on year.

To keep this trend moving forward, Xiao Yaqing is suggesting a further push to make China's state-run companies more global.

"First, we'd enhance the system building so that our 'out-going' scheme will be in compliance with China's laws, the local laws of the host countries and practices of international business operations. Second, we'd define and regulate our operations strictly so that in our operation, we will follow international rules and the local laws of host countries to faithfully perform our duties and establish a good reputation. Third, we'd seriously hold relevant parties accountable," said Xiao Yaqing.

There are currently more than 9,000 centrally-administered Chinese business entities invested in virtually every country around the world.