Nearly 5,000 state-owned enterprises, including centrally controlled ones, went bankrupt each year between 2002 and 2009, said the former head of China's state assets regulator on Tuesday.

Li Rongrong, who stepped down as director of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission last month, made the remark at a televised discussion session during the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin.

He said that the size of a company doesn't matter when it comes to bankruptcies and that big companies with poor management can fail.

Li also acknowledged that the high performances of SOEs have been a key factor for China's stable economic growth during the global financial crisis.