Rethink SOEs' role

Widespread public complaints against aggressive land appropriation by major State-owned enterprises (SOEs) demand that their role in the national economy be reviewed comprehensively instead of being met with half-hearted response from SOEs' supervisor, the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

On Wednesday, the SASAC told 78 centrally administered SOEs, whose core businesses did not include property development, to withdraw from the real estate sector. But without a specific deadline for the withdrawal, the SASAC's statement amounts to nothing more than a light rap on the knuckles. It can hardly make big SOEs giving up their quest to make profits from the overheated housing market.

Worse, it could encourage some State enterprises to expedite their land appropriation before a definite ban is imposed on them.