China approves 160 SOEs in pilot mixed-ownership reform

BEIJING -- China has chosen 160 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in its latest pilot mixed-ownership reform scheme, according to the country's top economic planner Friday.

The fourth batch of the pilot mixed-ownership reform program, involving 107 centrally-administrated SOEs and 53 SOEs managed by the local authorities, was approved at a recent meeting of the State Council leading group for SOE reform, Meng Wei, spokeswoman for the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a press conference.

The pilot SOEs were selected not only in traditional key sectors such as electricity power, oil, natural gas and rail transportation but also in emerging industries like Internet, software and information technology services, according to Meng.

The total assets of the SOEs are more than 2.5 trillion yuan (363 billion US dollars), and 99 enterprises owns assets exceeding 1 billion yuan, accounting for 61.8 percent of the total.

Since 2016, China has selected 50 SOEs in three batches to conduct the pilot reform in fields including power, energy, civil aviation, telecommunications and defense.

Business performances of these enterprises have been significantly improved as the reform is an important breakthrough for SOEs reform, Meng said.

Next, the commission will work with other departments to steadily advance the fourth batch of mixed ownership reform and explore more replicable experiences, Meng said.

"The operating performance of enterprises that have completed main reform tasks has improved significantly," Meng said, noting that their revenue and profit both increased by an average of more than 10 percent year on year.