China will restructure its 196 major state-owned enterprises (SOEs)
according to the law and diversify their shareholders, but they
will remain in public ownership, said a top economic official
Tuesday.
Li
Rongrong, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and
Administration Commission (SASAC), made the remarks in talks with
Kwon O-kyu, senior secretary for policy planning of the Republic of
Korea.
Kwon O-kyu spoke highly on China's SOE reform and inquired about
how China deal with bad assets of enterprises and what SASAC will
do next to its major SOEs.
The SASAC's first task was to establish and improve the boards of
directors in the SOEs, and diversify the shareholders by
encouraging them to sell and transfer shares at home and abroad, Li
said.
The gradual establishment of local state-assets management
institutions would also promote diversification of the enterprises'
shareholders, by facilitating cross-shareholding among local
enterprises and major SOEs, he said.
As
for the SOEs' bad assets, Li said loss-making SOEs could go
bankrupt either according to the law or according to policy.
China's state-owned economy would continue to play a leading role
in the national economy no matter how the SOEs were reformed, Li
stressed.
Kwon O-kyu appreciated Li's answers and hoped the two countries
will have more cooperation in SOEs reform and relevant
research.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2003)