Reforms to put SOEs in key role for initiative

China's new round of reform of its State-owned enterprises will further encourage them to be the country's major force driving the Belt and Road Initiative via win-win projects, high operational efficiency and flexible business layouts, political advisers and business leaders said on Sunday.

They made the remarks after Xiao Yaqing, chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said on Saturday that China would expand mixed ownership reform to more than 100 SOEs, after the country had selected 50 SOEs in three groups to conduct the pilot reform in fields including power, energy, civil aviation, telecommunications and defense, since 2016.

Wilson Pang, a partner at auditing and consultancy firm KPMG, said most of recent SOE reform programs had a much wider coverage and emphasized the importance of corporate governance, risk management, performance appraisal and strategic planning.