Chinese economists pushes for SOE reform

Li Yining answers question at the press conference on the supply-side structural reform at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 6, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

China should prioritize the reform of State-owned enterprises (SOE) in the process of pushing forward the supply side reform, a leading Chinese economist said on Thursday.

Li Yining, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee and a renowned economist, said China's supply side reform cannot be conducted with real progress without reforming the State-owned enterprises and tapping into the potential of State-owned capital.

Li said in a plenary session of the CPPCC National Committee on Thursday that the reform of SOEs must be conducted in the direction of "applying new technologies, developing new industries, using new inventions and enabling new efficiency".

"The State assets management authorities should be solely responsible for preserving and evaluating the values of the State-owned assets," he said.

Li added that the reform of the Stated-owned sector must be conducted at two levels, including the State assets management and reform of SOEs.

"The reform of SOEs in the competitive industries must be conducted through allowing mixed ownership, and the management of those companies must be in line with cooperate law, he said. The reform of SOEs in the special sectors must stick to the direction of State ownership," he said.

He also said that the country should implement employees' stock ownership in the process of reforming the SOEs, and encourage more enterprises to enforce a professional manager system.

"There is still a shortage of professional managers in the country, understandably, as we are still in the process of transitioning from the planned economy system to the market economy," he said.