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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.

Xing Huina:

Thank you. Now the floor is open for questions. Please identify the media outlet you represent before raising questions.

Xinhua News Agency:

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, historic achievements and changes have been made in the cause of the Party and the country. Would you please introduce the role of SOEs in that process? Thanks.

Weng Jieming:

Thank you for your question. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, historic achievements and changes have been made in the cause of the Party and the country. SOEs have played an important role and made important contributions to it.

First, SOEs have served as a pillar in promoting the high-quality development of the Chinese economy.

In terms of economic scale, SOEs have strongly enhanced China's economic strength. By the end of 2021, the total assets of the enterprises under the supervision and administration of the SASAC and its local commissions had reached 259.3 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.6 times over the end of 2012, with an average annual increase of 15.4%. From 2012 to 2021, these enterprises achieved 11.14 trillion yuan in value-added with an average annual growth rate of 9%, 2.3 percentage points higher than the average annual growth rate of GDP.

In terms of economic quality, SOEs have strongly improved high-quality development. Most of the enterprises under the supervision and administration of the SASAC and its local commissions are in important industries and key areas that concern national security, are important to the economy and people's lives, and protect the lifelines of the Chinese economy. In recent years, through continuously deepening reform and strengthening innovation, the enterprises have constantly enhanced development quality and returns and strongly led and driven the high-quality development of the enterprises in related industries. They have fostered a number of advanced manufacturing clusters in such fields as electronic information and rail transport. Meanwhile, these enterprises undertook about 80% of the country's task of easing steel overcapacity. The energy conservation and emission reduction targets of the 13th Five-Year Plan period were met ahead of schedule and surpassed. In 2021, the comprehensive energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of the output value of central enterprises decreased by about 33% compared with 2012.

In terms of economic opening-up, SOEs have strongly promoted the better integration of the Chinese economy into the world economy. Focusing on the high-quality joint development of the Belt and Road Initiative, SOEs have continued to enhance their capabilities to allocate resources globally. Central enterprises currently have over 8,000 overseas agencies and projects, with their total assets reaching nearly 8 trillion yuan. Several signature projects have been launched, such as the Piraeus port in Greece and the China-Laos railway, and are doing well. A number of high-quality products such as the high-speed rail and nuclear power have been expanded overseas and strongly led upstream and downstream companies in the industrial chain to make overseas presence together. 

Second, SOEs played a primary role in ensuring the implementation of major strategies of the Party and the state.

In terms of implementing China's major regional development strategies, SOEs focused on supporting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, the building of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin. We further promoted coordination and cooperation among SOEs at the central and local levels. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the SOEs have signed a total of 3,849 projects, and they have participated in more than 900 projects in Xiong'an New Area, which I just introduced.

In terms of ensuring the security of basic public services, central SOEs built the world's largest and leading internet infrastructure nationwide and actively carried out a series of infrastructure projects with large investments and thin returns, such as the Sichuan-Tibet power grid interconnection project, the central Tibet power grid interconnection project and the power grid interconnection project in Tibet's Ngari prefecture. They pushed forward a new round of work to upgrade rural power grids and extended the grid coverage to all villages. They have effectively supported China to build itself into a leader in manufacturing, cyberspace, and transport, and the building of Digital China, and firmly safeguarded national security, energy and resource security, food security, and information security.

In terms of providing support for major events and tasks of the country, SOEs stuck to the highest level of standards, in accordance with strict requirements, and took effective measures to ensure the construction of projects and provide related services. They have made great contributions to the successful holding of major events, such as the ceremonies marking the centenary of the CPC and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, and the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.

Third, SOEs played a leading role in pushing forward efforts in achieving sci-tech self-reliance and self-strengthening at higher levels.

SOEs boosted their sci-tech strength of national strategic importance. In the past ten years, central SOEs built more than 700 national R&D platforms and seven innovation consortia. They have spent a combined total of 6.2 trillion yuan on R&D, registering an annual growth rate of over 10%. At the end of 2021, SOEs have a total of 1.07 million R&D personnel, up 53% from the end of 2012, and 241 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, which accounts for one-seventh of the total in the country.

SOEs made breakthroughs in the bottleneck of critical technical problems. They focused on enhancing capabilities to make innovations independently, ramped up efforts to make breakthroughs in core technologies, and filled the gaps in many sectors. Progress has been made in solving the bottleneck of technical problems in the sectors of integrated circuits, 5G communication, high-speed rail, large aircraft development, engines, machine tools, energy, and power, among others.

SOEs achieved world-class scientific and technological advances. In recent years, central SOEs saw a constant stream of major sci-tech achievements in manned spaceflight, lunar exploration, deep-sea exploration, the Beidou Navigation Satellite System, 5G applications, and the self-developed aircraft carrier. They constructed a series of landmark projects, including the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the Baihetan hydropower station, the Deep-Sea No.1 gas field, and the nuclear power unit using the Hualong One reactor, and the demonstration project of the Shidaowan nuclear power plant with high-temperature gas-cooled reactor technology. All of these greatly inspired people to become more proud, confident, and assured in their identity as Chinese.

Fourth, SOEs played a significant role in living up to people's aspirations for a better life.

SOEs played an exemplary role in making greater contributions to society. Over the past decade, taxes paid by central SOEs totaled 18.2 trillion yuan. They turned over 1.3 trillion yuan of profits from the state capital operations to the government and appropriated 1.2 trillion yuan worth of state capital to replenish social security funds. They also carried out policies to ease difficulties for other companies. By taking measures such as cutting the price of gas and electricity and lowering rates for internet service, toll fees, and rent, SOEs have greatly reduced the pressure on SMEs to run businesses.

SOEs shouldered the responsibilities to improve people's lives. Central SOEs spared no effort in support of winning the fight against poverty. Since 2016, the fund from central SOEs for poverty reduction reached nearly 100 billion yuan. A total of 248 poverty-stricken national counties received assistance from the central SOEs and have been removed from the country's poverty list. They also helped lift 12,000 poor places out of poverty.

SOEs took the initiative to protect the safety of people. In 2020, faced with the sudden attack of COVID-19, SOEs reacted swiftly to the Party's command and shouldered heavy responsibilities, and built Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals quickly. They turned to produce or expanded the production of anti-COVID-19 material supplies at all costs. This year, the sporadic resurgence of COVID-19 was reported nationwide. SOEs stepped up efforts in supporting the fight against the pandemic in Jilin province and Shanghai, demonstrating their loyalty to the Party and serving the people with actual actions. 

Over the past decade, SOEs have made significant contributions to and played an important role in supporting the cause of the Party and the people, which made us feel more confident in developing the SOEs and more assured in overcoming challenges ahead. We will make further contributions to the development of our new journey. Thank you. 

CCTV:

The reform of SOEs is an important part of economic structural reform. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, especially after the release of the guideline on deepening reforms of SOEs and its related documents and the implementation of the three-year action plan, China has pushed forward the reform of SOEs into a new phase. What are the major achievements and breakthroughs we have made over the past decade? Thank you.

Weng Jieming:

Thank you for your question. The reform of SOEs has drawn much attention from all parties. In the past 10 years, especially after implementing the three-year action plan, we have effectively removed several institutional barriers and solved many tough problems that were long on the agenda. We have conducted thorough and systematic restructuring in many important sectors and key processes. As a result, a number of new modern SOEs with more vitality and dynamism are thriving. The achievements are as follows.

First, we have built a more sophisticated modern corporate structure of SOEs with Chinese characteristics and a system of state capital regulation. The reform to convert SOEs into standard companies has been completed, which has clarified the responsibilities of the government and SOEs both in legal and institutional terms. SOEs have thus become independent market entities. Party leadership and corporate governance have been integrated. Party leadership has been written into the agenda of SOEs. A majority of the SOEs have formulated a major management list that needs its Party committee in the company to provide contributions before decisions are made. Basically, all SOEs have set up their board of directors, with a majority of members being outside directors. A governance mechanism featuring statutorily-defined and transparent rights and responsibilities, coordinated operations, and effective checks and balances inside SOEs are taking shape. The system of state capital regulation is becoming more established. It unifies the responsibilities of the investors, the assets supervision, and Party building to ensure that state-owned assets are soundly managed while Party building progresses, the investors fulfill their responsibilities while the state-owned assets are being supervised, and intra-Party supervision and the supervision from its investors go hand in hand. It gives full play to the advantages of professional, systematic, and legal supervision, creating a "three-in-one" investor supervision closed loop that highlights supervision of the business and accountability. We will build a national state-owned assets supervision pattern so that each party can perform all of their duties efficiently.

Second, we have made visible progress in improving and restructuring the state-owned economy. The state-owned sector should focus mainly on helping to ensure strategic security, promote industry leadership, bolster the national economy, raise people's living standards, improve public services, and other functions. We have restructured or merged 47 central SOEs and founded or took over nine, reducing the number of central SOEs from 117 to 97. Over 70% of the income from the fields that I just mentioned is generated from central SOEs. Central SOEs are cutting their size to be more competitive by disposing of disadvantaged or non-core businesses and less efficient properties. We have completed addressing "zombie enterprises" and helped improve those enterprises in particular difficulty. We have established a long-term downsizing mechanism for SOEs, which has helped cut company numbers by 38.3% and condensed the management levels to no more than five. We have relieved enterprises of their obligation to operate social programs and solved their longstanding problems in this regard. The duties of managing over 20,000 public service facilities, as well as the obligation to provide water, electricity, heating, gas, and property management services for 15 million employees' homes, have been relieved from SOEs. Over 20 million retirees from SOEs are basically under socialized management. These efforts have effectively solved longstanding problems caused by blurred boundaries between the government and SOEs.

Third, we have made visible progress in increasing the vitality and efficiency of SOEs. The reform of labor, personnel, and distribution in SOEs has broken new ground. We have launched the tenure and contract-based management among managers, introduced the policy of open recruitment, competition for positions, and the termination of uncompetitive employees, and improved the distribution system based on performance and contributions. Moreover, we have widely adopted the medium- to long-term incentive policies. The mixed-ownership system reform has promoted the transition to better business models. Since 2013, the reorganization and reform of SOEs have financed over 2.5 trillion yuan from various types of nongovernmental capital. The number of central SOEs and local SOEs under mixed ownership accounted for over 70% and 54% of the total, respectively. Many SOEs sought new changes through mixed-ownership reform and improved their corporate governance and operations, which greatly improved their vitality and efficiency.

The above-mentioned aspects are both the original target and the achievements of SOE reform. They have laid a solid foundation for SOEs to better play a significant role in serving major national strategies and socioeconomic development and to address the unbalanced and insufficient development of SOEs.

What's worth mentioning is that the Party leadership and Party building have also been strengthened during the reform process. State-owned enterprises have followed the principles of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at the national meeting on building the role of the Party within SOEs, and placed Party building a major political duty. We have promoted the unity of the Party committee to play a leading role and the company's other governance bodies to exercise power and perform their duties in accordance with the law. In human resources management, both the Party and the market play their respective roles. Inside an SOE, there is both a Party organization and a corporate organization structure. The ideological and political work also goes hand in hand with the construction of corporate culture; the intra-Party supervision goes hand in hand with the internal supervision of the enterprise; and the Party building goes hand in hand with corporate management. As a result, the responsibility and awareness of the management of state-owned assets and state-owned enterprises have been continuously enhanced, the quality of party building work has been continuously improved, and the strong leadership of high-quality Party building has ensured the high-quality development of SOEs.

In the next step, in accordance with the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, we will uphold and strengthen the Party's overall leadership over SOEs, further advance their reform, improve the structure of the state-owned economy, continuously improve the market-oriented mechanism, fully stimulate the vitality and efficiency of SOEs, and accelerate the building of world-class SOEs with global competitiveness so that they can play a leading and strategic supporting role in the national economy.

Thank you.

ThePaper.cn:

Mixed-ownership reform is one of the priorities of SOE reform. What efforts have been made in this regard since the 18th CPC National Congress? How effective are they? What measures will be adopted in the future? Thank you. 

Peng Huagang:

Thank you for your questions. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the SASAC has been resolved to implement the decisions and deployments made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. In accordance with the overall requirement of improving governance, strengthening incentives, highlighting the main business, and raising efficiency, we have endeavored to advance mixed-ownership reform in an active yet steady way and facilitate diverse forms of ownership to learn from each other and stimulate one another for common development. We have stepped up efforts in the following aspects:

First, we have coordinated efforts to set the direction for mixed-ownership reform and exercise oversight on it. We have been committed to strengthening overall Party leadership in the whole process of the reform, adhered to the basic economic system, and worked unswervingly both to consolidate and develop the public sector and to encourage, support and guide development of the non-public sector to ensure that mixed-ownership reform steers in the right direction. We have fully demonstrated the necessity and feasibility of mixed-ownership reform in accordance with functional orientations of every enterprise. We made targeted plans and policies for them, making sure that those plans and policies will not be implemented until they are demonstrated to be reasonable and mature. Moreover, we have strengthened supervision over the whole process of the mixed-ownership reform to effectively prevent the loss of state-owned assets. 

Second, we have continued to improve the system of mixed-ownership reform. We have stepped up efforts to improve the top-level design of mixed-ownership reform and formulated and launched more than 20 regulations and supporting policies, establishing a system that covers all links of mixed-ownership reform to strictly standardize key links and procedures of the reform. We have worked with related authorities to address the common difficulties in treating idle land, financial tax, and asset pricing, improve operational standards, remove the roadblocks and mitigate burdens for the reform.

Third, we have expanded market-based channels for attracting capital. We have endeavored to leverage the role of the capital market in allocating resources and set up a market platform that is fair, impartial, and open, in order to ensure that all transactions and transfers of state-owned assets will be carried out openly through the capital market. Since 2013, more than 2.5 trillion yuan of social capital has been introduced through reforms and restructurings of SOEs. Since 2019, the SASAC has worked with the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce for three consecutive years to jointly hold the event on promoting the mixed-ownership reform of centrally-administered SOEs, which aims to boost synergies between central SOEs and private companies. The event has greatly facilitated in-depth mixed-ownership reform. More than 70 percent of centrally administered SOEs and 54 percent of local SOEs are now mixed-ownership ones. 

Fourth, we have stepped up efforts to deepen the reform of mechanism in a systematic manner. We have upheld systematic thinking and adopted a coordinated way to make sure that the mixed-ownership reform is more than just a mix, and given full play to advantages of integrated capital of mixed-ownership enterprises and encourage those enterprises to be vanguards and play an exemplary role in improving corporate governance and market-oriented operating mechanisms. In terms of strengthening the Party leadership, Party organizations have been established in the majority of the mixed-ownership enterprises where conditions allow. In terms of corporate governance, 70% mixed-ownership enterprises have directors from outside of the companies. State holding listed companies have continued to introduce those strategic investors with a shareholding ratio of over 5%, while their shareholding structure and corporate governance have been optimized. In terms of the market operation mechanism, all enterprises involved the mixed-ownership reform have basically achieved full coverage of managers' tenure system and contractual management. Medium- and long-term incentives have also been in place, with more than a hundred listed companies adopting equity incentives and 200 sci-tech enterprises adopting equity and dividend incentives. 

Thanks to mixed-ownership reforms, a large number of companies stand out for their outstanding major business, good corporate governance, strong innovation capacity, and high efficiency. Going forward, we will adhere to the principles of implementing mixed-ownership reform based on local conditions, specific industries and enterprises. We will adopt corporate forms of sole proprietorship, majority control, or equity participation only if conditions allow. We need to ensure that companies are not forced to merge. The reform does mean full coverage, and no specific timetable will be set. We will instead make active and prudent efforts to deepen mixed-ownership reform. In order to push ahead with mixed-ownership reform in SOEs by radically transforming the operating mechanism, we will ramp up efforts to help enterprises improve corporate governance structure and facilitate strategic investors to play their proactive roles so as to effectively protect shareholders' rights. We will also improve the flexible and efficient market-oriented operating mechanism, and promote the mixed-ownership reform to achieve substantial results. Thank you.

CNR:

According to the information presented today, SOEs have made major achievements in economic effectiveness and quality of development. What do you think of the high-quality development of SOEs in recent years? What remarkable changes have SOEs made?

Weng Jieming:

Thank you for your questions. High-quality development is a prominent index to evaluate the outcome of SOE reform. SOEs have been playing a crucial role in boosting high-quality development and serve as a strong pillar of the socialist economy with the Chinese characteristics. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the state capital and SOEs have strived for full and faithful implementation of the new development philosophy and firmly committed to a high-quality development path. Their achievements can be summarized in the following four aspects: 

First, we have always stuck to high-quality development. We have given full play to the role of business performance evaluation and set up a high-quality development indicator system based on "two profits and four rates." "Two profits" are total profit and net profit. "Four rates" are the profit margin of operating income, the asset-liability ratio, the research and development intensity (R&D intensity), and total labor productivity. These four indicators are very clear and show our focus on high-quality development. We will guide enterprises to effectively change their methods of development, shift the focus from pursuing the scale and speed of development in the past to improving the quality of development today, and strive to achieve high-quality growth on a solid footing.

Second, high-quality development has gained more momentum. We have given top priority to scientific and technological innovation, conscientiously implemented the strategy of innovation-driven development, and insisted on the principle of offering as much as we can and as much as we should. We have implemented a series of supportive policies, such as annual assessment bonus points, regarding R&D expenses as profit, capital injection, and separating total payroll. We adopted a mechanism of inspiring the most capable enterprises to undertake projects. We have also encouraged enterprises to step up innovation and activate their potential for innovation and creativity, thus gaining a large number of independent innovation achievements. It has provided SOEs a stronger impetus and momentum for development.

Third, the foundation of high-quality development has been more solid. Taking the deepening of supply-side structural reform as the main task, we strived to overcome the shortcomings that restricted high-quality development of SOEs. We have promoted strategic reorganization and professional integration with unprecedented intensity and sped up the disposal of assets that are outside the core business, lack competitive advantages, and are inefficient or ineffective. And we have completed the disposal of "zombie enterprises," basically stripped out social functions of the enterprises, and solved historical problems. These have increased enterprises' efficiency, enabled them to focus more on their main responsibilities and business to develop the real economy, and further laid a solid foundation for enterprises' high-quality development.

Fourth, the vitality of high-quality development has been fully stimulated. We have insisted on propelling development through reform, vigorously promoted market-oriented reform, and strived to build up a lean and efficient organizational structure. And we have fully carried out the fixed-term appointment system and contractual management for the members at the managerial level, and actively explored a professional manager system. We have further reformed three systems and promoted mixed-ownership SOEs to accelerate the transformation of operating mechanisms. We have implemented special reform projects, such as "double-hundred actions," "regional comprehensive reform experiments," and "scientific reform demonstration action." Thanks to the deepened reforms, mechanisms have been reinvigorated and improved, helping to regenerate a number of SOEs, and accelerate their growth.

A key mark for SOEs' achievements in high-quality development is their substantial steps in building a world-class enterprise. The development of the modern economy shows that a country will be strong if its enterprises are strong. To build a modern socialist country in all respects, we must build up world-class enterprises, which is also the strategic task of SOEs in the new era. The number of SOEs entering the world's top 500 increased from 65 in 2012 to 96 in 2021, covering shipbuilding, steel, energy, construction, water transportation, equipment manufacturing, and other sectors.

In general, significant progress has been made in state-owned assets and SOEs by implementing the new development concept and promoting high-quality development. We are more determined to further speed up the building of world-class enterprises. Thank you.

Beijing Daily:

In October 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed the CPC's unswerving leadership over state-owned enterprises (SOEs) during a national meeting on strengthening Party building within SOEs. Please let us know what progress and achievements SOEs have made in upholding the leadership of the Party and strengthening Party building? What role does upholding and strengthening the Party's leadership play in the reform and development of SOEs?

Weng Jieming:

Thank you for your questions; these questions are fundamental ones. Upholding the Party's leadership and strengthening Party building are the "root" and "soul" of SOEs and their unique advantages. Since the national meeting on strengthening Party building within SOEs was held, central SOEs as well as the entire domain of SOEs, have continued to thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech. SOEs have launched one special themed campaign every year, and five special actions have been taken to promote the Year of Implementation of Party Building Work, the Year of Quality Improvement for Party Building, the Year of Promoting Grass-roots Party Building, the Year of Consolidating Party Building, and the Year of Innovation and Expansion for Party Building. SOEs take the implementation of the requirements of full and strict self-discipline of the Party as the main task and take solving problems as a breakthrough in order to increase the awareness and responsibility of state-owned enterprises to enforce Party self-discipline. The weakening of the Party's leadership, the lack of Party building, and the poor implementation of strict self-discipline of the Party have been significantly rectified, and the reform and development have achieved remarkable results. The development of the enterprise and the spiritual outlook of cadres and workers have taken on a brand-new look.

First, SOEs are more determined to achieve the "two upholds" – uphold General Secretary Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and uphold the Party Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership. SOEs insist on taking the Party's political building as the fundamental building, and 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. We adhere to the system of "first issue," which refers to taking the study of the relevant theories, thoughts, and instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the CPC Central Committee as the first priority issue of various Party meetings in different levels. We have established a working mechanism to supervise its implementation and constructed a closed loop of learning, research and deployment, implementation, tracking and supervision, and reporting feedback to ensure that the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and General Secretary Xi Jinping are being implemented.

Second, the Party's comprehensive leadership over SOEs is more powerful. SOEs have fully implemented the "two consistencies," which means it must be consistent for an important political principle of adhering to the Party's leadership over SOEs, while it must also be consistent for the establishment of a modern enterprise system as the direction of SOEs reform. The building of a modern enterprise system with Chinese characteristics has been accelerated. We have strengthened the Party's leadership in improving corporate governance and fully implemented the systems of "incorporating general requirements for Party building into a company's articles of association," "one-shoulder stand," which means an SOE's chairman should also be the company's Party secretary. We have also "listed the pre-research items for the Party committee of SOEs" to ensure that the Party's leadership is institutionalized, has due procedure and is well exercised. We adhered to the principle that the Party supervises cadres and the Party manages talents and built a loyal, clean, and responsible team of high-quality professionals.

Third, the grassroots foundation for Party building is firmer and more stable. We insist on strengthening the grassroots Party organizations of SOEs without slackening, insisting that Party building and business operations are simultaneously planned, deployed, implemented, and assessed, and actively promote the standardization of grassroots Party building. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, central SOEs have added more than 40,000 Party organizations and absorbed 1.148 million new Party members. The grassroots Party organizations have been established as they should, and their political functions and organizational capabilities have been continuously enhanced.

Fourth, the responsibility of enforcing Party self-discipline has been strengthened. We have established and implemented three systems for the Party committee (Party group) of central SOEs to report the annual Party building work to the party committee of the SASAC, that the secretary of the Party committee (Party group) to report to the party committee of the SASAC on-site, and that the secretary of the grassroots Party organization to review and evaluate the work of the Party building. We have formulated measures for the implementation of the responsibility system for Party building work in central SOEs, continuously improved the assessment and evaluation system for Party building, and consolidated corporate Party building responsibilities.

Fifth, the corporate political ecology is more optimized. We continue to work to improve Party conduct, build clean governance, and fight corruption. We worked ceaselessly to address the practice of formalities for formalities' sake, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance, persistently investigate and deal quickly with problems that violate the guiding principles of central Party leadership's eight-point decision on improving conduct, increase the anti-corruption efforts within SOEs, ensuring that officials do not dare to be, are denied the opportunity to be, and have no wish to be corrupt so as to foster a healthy political atmosphere of integrity.

The Party leadership and Party building of SOEs have been fundamentally strengthened, providing a strong guarantee for the reform and development of enterprises. We will continue to thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the national meeting on strengthening Party building within SOEs, rev up efforts to strengthen our "roots" and "souls" to make sure the high-quality development of enterprises is led and guaranteed by high-quality Party building.

Thank you.

Science and Technology Daily:

As new sci-tech revolution and industrial transformation advance rapidly, they pose both a challenge and an opportunity for China's industrial development. In terms of promoting industrial transformation and upgrading as well as planning emerging industries, what have SOEs done, and can you share with us the results? Thanks.

Peng Huagang:

Thank you for your questions. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, according to the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee, SOEs have actively grasped the opportunities brought by new sci-tech revolution and industrial transformation, deepened supply-side structural reforms as the main task, and made reforms and innovation the primary driving force in our endeavor to step up the transformation of traditional industries and the development of new emerging industries. A lot of work has been done in this regard, with focus on ensuring strategic security, promoting industry leaders, bolstering the national economy, raising people's living standards, and improving public services.

On the one hand, we have continued to deepen the transformation of traditional industries, mainly to ensure the "priorities" in the following aspects. First, priority was given to supply in technology innovation. We expanded investment in equipment upgrading, intensified technical reform, and comprehensively improved technological skills, product quality, and safety levels so as to promote advanced technologies and high-end products in traditional industries. Second, priority was given to efficiency in employing digital and smart technologies. With focus on smart manufacturing, we launched an action plan for the digital transformation of SOEs. More than 70% of centrally administered SOEs have established high-level industrial internet platforms, and over 40% have set up AI technology R&D institutions to accelerate an advanced production model, including flexible production and real-time manufacturing. Third, priority was given to ecological conservation in green transformation. We vigorously promoted the energy conservation and carbon reduction of enterprises in the steel, non-ferrous metal, building materials, petrochemical, and other industries. As leaders of green and low-carbon transformation, power grid enterprises carried out pilot green power trading, electric power enterprises actively participated in the building of a mechanism for the carbon emission reduction market, and building material enterprises created a zero-emissions demonstration line for glass production.

On the other hand, we have continued to expand the layout of emerging industries, mainly to ensure "fast speed." First, investment grew fast in emerging industries. We gave full play to the role of the state-owned enterprises restructuring fund, and continued to increase investment in emerging industries. The investment exceeded 1.3 trillion yuan in 2021 from less than 700 billion yuan in 2017, with an average annual increase of over 20%. Second, coordinated development platforms were built fast. We have promoted the building of a number of digital innovation platforms in fields of new energy vehicles, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, e-commerce, and blockchain, established collaborative innovation platforms concerning logistics big data and marine equipment, and created the independent and controllable Tianyi cloud, thus giving full play to their leading role in industrial development. Third, the layout of the new infrastructure was fast. More than 700 subsidiaries of nearly 70 centrally administered SOEs have increased investment in new infrastructure, with more than 400 billion yuan in 2021. And over 1,300 projects are scheduled to launch during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), with a forecasted total investment of over 10 trillion yuan.

As you mentioned just now, new sci-tech revolution and industrial transformation are advancing rapidly, and they pose both a challenge and an opportunity for the country's industrial development. We believe that SOEs, including central SOEs, will surely seize the opportunity to accelerate the development of new growth drivers and shape new advantages so as to provide strong support for the building of a modern industrial system.

China News Service:

The nature of socialism is to achieve common prosperity. The CPC Central Committee is committed to achieving common prosperity for everyone by the middle of the 21st century. What have SOEs done to promote common prosperity? How can they work better? Thank you.

Peng Huagang:

Thank you for your questions. The state-owned assets belong to and are the common property of all the people. Ensuring the sustained and steady development of the SOEs and maintaining and increasing the value of state-owned assets are the foundation for common prosperity for everyone. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, resolutely implementing the instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, SOEs have fully carried out their economic, political, and social duties and promoted common prosperity by protecting and growing the common wealth of the people, mainly including the following aspects:

First, SOEs have been committed to releasing and developing their productive forces, constantly increasing the common wealth of all the people. By the end of 2021, the asset value of the central SOEs totaled 75.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 141.1% over the end of 2012, and successively passed the 40 trillion, 50 trillion, 60 trillion, and 70 trillion yuan marks. From 2012 to 2021, the accumulated profits of the central SOEs totaled 15.7 trillion yuan, with an annual increase of 8%. The development of central SOEs has made great contributions to the sustained and steady growth of the national economy, continuously making the "cake" bigger and better.

Second, SOEs have been actively engaged in income distribution reform, playing an exemplary role in wealth distribution. In primary distribution, SOEs have upheld an income distribution system under which distribution according to work is the mainstay while multiple forms of distribution exist alongside it and improved the market-based incentive and constraint mechanism. Respecting the fruits of the hard work of employees, the SOEs have made appropriate increases to the pay packages for them. In redistribution, SOEs pay taxes in accordance with the law, serving as an important source of national fiscal revenue. During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period, SOEs paid a total of 17.6 trillion yuan in taxes and fees, accounting for about a quarter of the national tax revenue in the same period. Seventy-six central SOEs transferred their state capital of 1.2 trillion yuan to replenish the national social security fund. In tertiary distribution, SOEs have actively participated in public services, making every effort to provide assistance and support for those in poverty, taking the initiative to strengthen charitable donations, and earnestly fulfilling their social responsibilities, thus acting as an example for the whole of society.

Third, the SOEs have made every effort to serve and improve people's livelihoods, consolidating the foundation for common prosperity. Consciously subordinating to the arrangement of macro regulation, SOES have made solid efforts to ensure the supply and prices of key supplies such as coal, petroleum, natural gas, and electricity that are essential to social stability and people's wellbeing; strengthened operational management of infrastructure networks, including communications, railways, and aviation; undertaken the construction of infrastructure and livelihood projects with large investment and low profits such as the Sichuan-Tibet, Central Tibet, and Ngari Prefecture power grid interconnection projects; and further advanced a new round of rural power grids upgrade and Dynamic Electricity for Each Village Project. By making all these efforts, people's work and lives have been effectively improved. SOEs have done their utmost to help win the battle against poverty. Since 2016, the SASAC and the central SOEs have sent a total of 37,000 temporary poverty relief officials and invested hundreds of billions of yuan in assistance funds. Under their paired assistance, all of the 248 counties that are key targets of the government's development-oriented poverty-reduction work have been lifted out of poverty. 

Fourth, the layout of the state-owned sector of the economy has been continuously improved and adjusted, contributing to addressing imbalances and inadequacies in development. In terms of the layout of industries, SOEs have mainly focused on basic industries, public service industries, and strategic industries, with over 70% of the revenues in sectors that concern national security and are essential to social stability and people's wellbeing coming from central SOEs. In terms of the layout of capital, SOEs have leveraged their strength to play a leading role in taking active and prudent steps to push forward mixed-ownership reform. They have strengthened collaboration in industrial chains and coordination in supply chains with enterprises under all forms of ownership to achieve a win-win for mutual benefit and common development. In terms of regional development priorities, SOEs have fully implemented major regional development strategies, taking an active part in addressing development disparities among the eastern, the central, and the western regions and those between the northern and the southern regions. SOEs have also earnestly implemented the rural revitalization strategy, providing strong support for narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas and between regions.

It is the glory mission and important duty of state-owned assets and the SOEs to take a new and distinctively Chinese path to modernization and promote common prosperity. Striving for the fundamental goal of meeting the growing expectation of the people for a better life and working on resolving imbalances and inadequacies in development, we will spare no effort to promote more development gains of the SOEs to better trickle down to all the people to make greater contributions to and play a better role in delivering prosperity to all the people. First, SOEs will continue to make the "cake" bigger, serving as the creator of common prosperity. Second, SOEs will contribute to the distribution of the "cake", serving as an example of the scientific distribution of wealth. Third, the SOEs will protect the "cake", serving as the defender of the security of state-owned assets.

Thank you.

Beijing Office of Changjiang Daily:

State-owned assets belong to and are the common property of all people. What has the SASAC done over the past decade to strengthen the supervision of state-owned assets? What achievements and progress have been made? Thank you.

Weng Jieming:

Thanks for your questions. It is the mission entrusted by the CPC Central Committee and the SASAC to strengthen the supervision over state-owned assets and protect and grow the common wealth of the people. Fully grasping and putting into practice the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on strengthening the supervision over state-owned assets, we have been working on improving the supervision system for state-owned assets and constantly enhanced the effectiveness of supervision. By doing so, we have effectively safeguarded the security of state-owned assets and rights and the interests of the state capital and prevented the loss of state-owned assets. 

First, we established and improved the state-owned assets supervision and administration system. Bearing in mind the responsibilities of the SASAC, we fully advanced the function transformation of the state-owned assets supervision organs, constantly refined lists of supervisory power and responsibility, and integrated the fulfillment of obligations of funders and the oversight of state-owned assets with Party building. The practices of managing capital while overseeing Party building, executing funders' duties while supervising and administrating state-owned assets, and conducting inner-Party supervision while introducing funders' supervision have guaranteed deep supervision over and an effective administration of state-owned assets. 

Second, we gave full play to a professional, systematic, and law-based supervision and administration. Exploring a regulatory approach, under which professionals, rather than those of industry authorities or social governance departments, played the role of supervision and administration. We strengthened supervision over planning, investment, evaluation, and allocation and enhanced basic administration such as property rights management and financial regulation. We coordinated multiple regulatory objectives covering stabilizing economic growth, advancing reform, strengthening innovation, promoting development and preventing risks, and realized an all-around, whole-process, systematic supervision and administration. We also improved the legal system and work system regarding state-owned assets supervision, promoted the rule of law in centrally administered SOEs, and bolstered our law-based state-owned assets supervision and administration capacity.

Third, we fostered a general environment for state-owned assets supervision and administration. We continued the reform of separating government administration from both enterprise management and state-owned assets management and sped up the centralized and unified supervision over for-profit state-owned assets. We launched an online supervision platform for state-owned assets and SOEs. We also strengthened guidance for and oversight over local state-owned assets supervision and administration commissions so as to improve the general efficiency of the overall supervision and administration work.

Practices have proved that with Chinese characteristics, the existing state-owned assets supervision and administration system is an important institutional arrangement that ensures the safety of state-owned assets and prevents their loss. It conforms to the laws of market economy and corporation development and shall be steadfastly upheld and constantly improved.

Thank you.

Zhonghongwang.com:

Restructuring is important for SOE reform. How have reforms progressed since the 18th National Congress of the CPC? What kind of role is it playing in advancing corporate reform? Will more effort be made to further restructure and integrate centrally administered SOEs so as to accelerate the general SOE reform? Thank you.

Weng Jieming:

Thank you for your questions. As I just mentioned, since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, we have completed the reorganization of 47 centrally administered SOEs in accordance with the decision and arrangement of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and established nine centrally administered SOEs, including PipeChina and China Satellite Network Group, in order to meet national strategic needs and promote industrial development. The restructuring and professional integration carried out last year were very impressive. Significant achievements in this regard were heard of almost every month except February, and these efforts all worked well. 

Thanks to these efforts, centrally administered SOEs have become more prominent in their primary responsibilities and core businesses and more efficient in resource allocation. As their core competitiveness substantially increased, centrally administered SOEs are playing an ever-bigger role in such areas as supporting the implementation of national strategies, promoting innovation-driven development, facilitating industrial circulation, and ensuring people's well-being.

Centrally administered SOEs served as both backbone and ballast in supporting the implementation of major national strategies. We reorganized resources from both central and local SOEs and established the China Rare Earth Group, greatly strengthening our administration of the resource and enhancing our international influence. We established the China Electric Equipment Group to advance the systematic integration of power transmission and distribution equipment manufacturing and significantly improved our capabilities to provide comprehensive solutions. We also founded China Logistics to expedite the construction of a modern logistics system and better maintain the stability and safety of the industrial and supply chains. 

Centrally administered SOEs contributed significantly to the improvement of resource allocation efficiency and optimization of the layout and structure of the state-owned sector. We established the China Baowu Steel Group by reorganizing the former Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron & Steel Group and rapidly promoting the rate of industrial capacity utilization and corporate performance. The company also took the initiative to cut 15,420,000 metric tons of steel overcapacity. We integrated the assets of the oil and gas pipeline network and established PipeChina, reducing redundant investments and improving operation efficiency. We founded the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) through the merger of CNR and CSR and expanded investment in research and development, making the country much more competitive in rail transit equipment manufacturing.

Centrally administered SOEs boosted development quality and sharpened their competitive edge in the global market. Sinochem Holdings was formed by merging Sinochem Group Co., Ltd. and China National Chemical Corporation Ltd. Its total assets and revenue have both exceeded one trillion yuan, making it the largest comprehensive chemical company in the world. China State Shipbuilding Corporation was established through the merger of two shipbuilding corporations. In 2021, its shipbuilding output, newly received orders, and orders on hand – three major indicators of the shipbuilding industry – all topped the global list with each accounting for more than 20% of the world's total. As for the China COSCO Shipping Group, its container fleet capacity leaped to the third-highest in the world and ranked first in the total fleet, dry bulk fleet, tanker fleet, general and specialized cargo fleet, and terminal operation as well as crew management. 

Aiming to build world-class corporations, we will continue deepening supply-side structural reforms and advance strategic reorganization and professional integration. We will pay more attention to overall planning with concerted efforts in major areas, attach more importance to market principles and the rule of law in the whole process, and forge synergy in restructuring and integration, and ensure one plus one is more than two.

Friends from the media, Mr. Peng and I would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation for all you've done, and you are welcome to do more in-depth reports on state-owned assets and SOEs through various means. Thank you, everyone.  

Xing Huina:

That concludes today's briefing. Thank you to the two speakers and friends from the media.

Translated and edited by Yuan Fang, Ma Yujia, Cui Can, Wang Yiming, Guo Yiming, Gong Yingchun, Yang Xi, Zhou Jing, Zhang Rui, Liu Qiang, Zhang Tingting, Wang Wei, Xu Kailin, Li Huiru, He Shan, Yan Xiaoqing, Wang Qian, David Ball, Jay Birbeck, and Tom Arnstein. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.