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Speakers:

Weng Jieming, vice chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council

Peng Huagang, secretary general and spokesperson of the SASAC of the State Council

Chairperson:

Xing Huina, spokesperson of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC)

Date:

June 17, 2022

Xing Huina:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference held by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee. This is the ninth press conference under the theme of "China in the past decade." Today, we have invited Mr. Weng Jieming, vice chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council and Mr. Peng Huagang, secretary general and spokesperson of the SASAC of the State Council, to brief you on the reform and development of state-owned assets and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the new era and take your questions.

Now, let's give the floor to Mr. Weng for his introduction.

Weng Jieming:

Thank you. Friends from the press, I'm very glad to meet with you all here. I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the SASAC of the State Council and chief of the SASAC Hao Peng, to express my thanks to the media and all sectors of society for their long-term interest in the reform and development of state-owned assets and SOEs.

As we all know, SOEs help lay an important material and political foundation for socialism with Chinese characteristics. They serve as a crucial pillar and reliable force for the CPC's governance of the country and an important part of the CPC-led national governance system. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to the work related to state-owned assets and SOEs. General Secretary Xi Jinping has delivered a series of important speeches, made a series of important instructions, and launched a series of major deployments. In particular, a national meeting on building the role of the Party within SOEs was held on Oct. 10, 2016. General Secretary Xi Jinping attended the meeting and made an important speech. He answered important questions both on theoretical and practical matters such as whether SOEs are necessary, whether SOEs should strengthen Party building and how that should be achieved, and expounded on why and how SOEs could be made stronger, bigger and better. General Secretary Xi Jinping's important exposition on the reform and development of SOEs and Party building is a chapter dedicated to SOEs of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It has pointed the way forward and provided fundamental guidelines for the work related to state-owned assets and SOEs in the new era.

Over the past decade, we have thoroughly studied and implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on the reform and development of SOEs and Party building, resolutely implemented the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and promoted fundamental, transformative and major changes in SOEs across the board. Over the past decade, a modern enterprise system with Chinese characteristics has taken shape and matured. Over the past decade, SOEs have achieved the most comprehensive development with significant improvements in vitality, efficiency and optimization of structure.

Over the past decade, progress in the reform and development of SOEs has made important contributions to the historic achievements and changes of the Party and the country in the new era. They are mainly as follows:

First, the Party's overall leadership over SOEs has been fundamentally strengthened, and high-quality Party building has effectively guided and guaranteed the high-quality development of enterprises. We have adhered to the "two upholds" as the highest political principles and fundamental political rules, that is, firmly upholding Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and upholding the Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership. Guided by the political development of the Party, we have vigorously promoted the study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and continued to thoroughly implement the spirits of the important speech made by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the national meeting on building the role of the Party within SOEs. We have launched five themed special campaigns, each lasting a year, to enhance the Party leadership and Party building in SOEs — for example, the year of Party building work implementation. By doing so, we have provided a strong safeguard for the reform and development of enterprises.

Second, concrete measures have been taken to pursue the high-quality development of SOEs, and remarkable results have been achieved in fostering world-class enterprises. We have been following the new development philosophy in a complete, accurate and comprehensive manner, and put more emphasis on the requirements for high-quality development. We have oriented more toward high-quality development by introducing an indicator system featuring net profit, total profit, profit margin of operating income, asset-liability ratio, R&D investment intensity, and labor productivity. In the past, the central SOEs prioritized extensive growth that emphasized scale and speed of development. Now they have shifted to intensive growth with a greater focus on quality and efficiency. We have put more emphasis on encouraging self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology, and provided necessary support as much as we can. We have scaled up policy support and stepped up the building of pacesetters for promoting key scientific and technological breakthroughs, original technologies, training talents in the scientific and technological sector, and technological innovation special zones with preferential policies. In these ways, we have boosted high-quality development through technological innovation. We have focused on the real economy, promoted strategic restructuring and professional integration, vigorously enhanced the upgrading of traditional industries, and developed emerging industries with strategic importance. The operating income of businesses involving national security, the lifeblood of the national economy, and people's lives in central SOEs accounts for more than 70% of the total. By optimizing the structure, we have effectively promoted high-quality development.

Third, major breakthroughs have been made in the reform of SOEs, and the vitality and efficiency of enterprises have been effectively enhanced. We have thoroughly implemented the "1+N" document system for the reform of SOEs and the three-year action for SOE reform. We have adhered to the Party's leadership over SOEs as a major political principle and continued to carry out SOE reform to establish a modern enterprise system. We have strived to build and improve the modern enterprise system with Chinese characteristics, and promoted the Party's leadership in corporate governance to be more institutionalized, specific and law-based. Efforts have also been made to build a transparent and coordinated governance system with checks and balances. We have followed the direction of the socialist market economy reform, completed corporate system reform in an all-round manner, and relieved enterprises of their obligation to operate social programs and solve their longstanding problems in this regard. We have comprehensively deepened three institutional reforms in SOEs, and actively and prudently pushed forward mixed ownership in SOEs. By doing so, we have removed several institutional obstacles and solved many crucial and tough problems that were long on the agenda but never resolved. SOE reform in the new era has strongly promoted SOEs to become modern new SOEs with new corporate governance, new operating mechanism and new structure.

Fourth, the state-owned assets supervision and administration system has become more mature and established, thus effectively ensuring the safety of state-owned assets and preventing their loss. With a good grasp of our responsibilities, we have further promoted the transformation of the functions of state-owned assets supervision and administration agencies and dynamically improved the lists of supervision and administration powers and duties. We have integrated the fulfillment of our three roles as the investor of central enterprises, the specialized supervisor and administrator of state-owned assets, and the department in charge of Party building of central enterprises to make the supervision and administration of state-owned assets more professional, systematic and law-based. We have actively promoted the centralized and unified supervision of for-profit state-owned assets and worked hard to foster a big landscape for state-owned assets supervision and administration to firmly protect and develop the commonwealth of all the people. The average proportion of centralized and unified supervision of provincial-level state-owned assets supervision and administration commissions has surpassed 98%.

Fifth, the strategic support of the state-owned sector has been brought into full play, and its political nature to uphold the Party and serve the people has been fully demonstrated. Keeping in mind the overall work of the Party and the country, we have actively served major regional strategies such as those for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region, and solidly promoted cooperation between central and local SOEs. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, SOEs have signed 3,849 projects and participated in more than 900 projects in the Xiong'an New Area. We have further promoted the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and the overseas assets of central enterprises have reached nearly 8 trillion yuan, distributed among more than 8,000 projects in over 180 countries and regions. Following the people-centered development approach, we have made every effort to help win the battle against poverty, and all the 248 key counties to which SOEs provided targeted assistance have been lifted out of poverty. In the fight against the pandemic and in disaster relief, we have put people's lives first and have come forward, fought at the forefront and gone all out to safeguard the safety of people's lives and property, and done everything possible to ensure the stability of market supply, thus serving as a pillar and ballast stone at critical points. 

The achievements of the past decade are encouraging and have not come easy. At the fundamental level, all the achievements must be attributed to the steering of General Secretary Xi Jinping as the core of the Party Central Committee and of the Party and the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. At the same time, the achievements also embody the hard work and contributions of the state capital and SOEs sector. It would not have been possible without the keen concern and strong support from people of all walks of life, particularly our friends from the media.

Along the new journey, we will rally even closer around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core and follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. We will acquire a deep understanding of the decisive significance of the establishment of both Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and boost our consciousness of the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, follow the leadership core, and keep in alignment with the central Party leadership. We will stay confident in the path, the theory, the system, and the culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We will firmly uphold Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and uphold the Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership. We will put in place the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, unswervingly improve the strength, quality, and scale of SOEs, and accelerate the efforts to build world-class enterprises. We will strive to make greater contributions to the fulfillment of the second Centenary Goal of building a modern socialist country and the realization of great national rejuvenation and set the stage for the 20th CPC National Congress with concrete actions.

Now, my colleague Mr. Peng and I would like to take questions from our friends from the media.