China’s state-owned firms are ready to welcome foreign stakeholders, says top state-asset watchdog
- Xiao Yaqing, head of the state assets regulator, said foreign businesses were welcome to buy stakes in China’s industrial juggernauts
- The push is part of mixed-ownership reforms aimed at making SEOs more competitive
Beijing offered further hope to international investors on Tuesday after President Xi Jinping’s push for globalisation, inviting foreign companies to take part in the reform of the mainland’s major state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
Xiao Yaqing, head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (Sasac), said foreign businesses were welcome to buy stakes in China’s industrial juggernauts as part of efforts to enhance SOEs’ competitiveness through ownership restructuring.
“Domestic and foreign companies are cordially invited to engage in the SOE reform via equity financing deals,” Xiao told a forum at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Tuesday. “They will play a role in deepening the reform, upgrading the SOEs’ manufacturing might, and hence reaping their gains from the growth of the companies.”
Xiao’s remarks came after President Xi called for further globalisation during the opening of the Expo on Monday and pledged that China’s economy would continue to open up.
The president also attacked unilateralism, in a thinly veiled criticism of the United States as the trade war between the world’s two largest economies continues.
Beijing has maintained a tight grip on the major state-owned manufacturing companies because most of them are in industries considered the backbone of the economy, such as telecoms, coal mining and oil processing.