By Li Hongmei
The Chinese government is likely to pass a new round of reforms on state enterprises which will clarify market orientation and diversify share ownership, paving the way for the participation of private capital.
The State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Guizhou province, in southwestern China, has asked 28 state enterprises under its jurisdiction, such as the Kweichow Moutai Company, the producer and retailer of the renowned Maotai liquor, to introduce two or more strategic investors by the end of 2017.
An official of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council remarked that "It's easier for municipal-level state enterprises to carry out reform, due to their smaller size and the less sensitive nature of their businesses."
There are now 114 central-level state enterprises with total assets of 30 trillion yuan (US$5 trillion) in value. The reform of the central-level state enterprises has been a hot public issue in recent years.
After nearly 10 years of protracted debate, a clear guideline for the reform of state enterprises may finally be formed in the upcoming third plenary session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee, experts say.
The National Social Science Foundation has suggested classifying the 115 central-level state enterprises into enterprises with a mandate for public policy, those with special functions, and common commercial establishments, before formulating different mechanisms of governance for each category.
The Development Research Center of the State Council has proposed four categories for central-level enterprises: those with the function of social protection; those with the function of public services, mainly involving infrastructure and common services for basic industries; those with the function of assuring strategic industrial stability, competition and innovation; and those with the function of protecting national security, most in the field of national defense.
"Categorized supervision has become a consensus, although people are still at odds over the categorization of central-level state enterprises," said the official at the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.
