State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have cheered the importance given to the sector in Communist Party chief Hu Jintao's keynote speech to the party's 18th national congress on Thursday, which looks to have ensured their dominance of the world's second-largest economy continues for the next five years.
Hu said China would "unwaveringly consolidate and develop public ownership", help more state-owned capital go to key industries and increase the vitality and influence of the sector.
The comments mean that China will stick to the road of mainly relying on government-controlled companies to develop the economy, instead of focusing on the private sector, to the disappointment of market economy advocates.
"The signal is very clear," Ning Gaoning , a director of Cofco, the largest state-owned oil and foodstuff trading firm, said yesterday. "The predominant position of public-ownership is listed among the basic premises of economic construction with Chinese characteristics."
The Communist Party copied the model used in the Soviet Union to develop government-owned enterprises when it came to power in 1949.
The state sector has prospered in the past decade, with financing, market access and various kinds of policies tilted to protect its interests. SOE delegates expressed pride in the sector's achievements during a group discussion of Hu's report yesterday.