China’s SOE reform questioned after Beijing appoints inexperienced official to head assets watchdog

Hao Peng will assume the role of chairman at State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (Sasac)

State-owned enterprises are an issue at the centre of the US-China trade war, with Washington demanding a level playing field for its businesses in China

3-MIN READ3-MIN

The issue of state-owned enterprises has been a key issue discussed during the trade talks between China and the United States. Photo: EPA

Published: 2:51pm, 21 May 2019Updated: 11:00pm, 21 May 2019

China’s appointment of an official with little track record in the corporate world as the head of its state-owned assets watchdog has raised questions over the direction of the restructuring of the state firms that have long since been a thorny issue between Beijing and its trading partners, according to analysts.

Hao Peng, the current Communist Party chief of the state assets watchdog, will assume the role of chairman at State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (Sasac).

Xiao Yaqing, Sasac’s outgoing chief, has been appointed head of the country’s market regulation administration, state media reported on Saturday. Xiao will succeed Zhang Mao, who is retiring.

Hao worked for the Lanzhou Flight Control Instrument Factory in 1980s and 1990s before joining the government. He worked as a deputy mayor of Lanzhou and a deputy chairman in Tibet, and before his appointment as Communist Party secretary at Sasac in December 2016, was the provincial governor of Qinghai, one of the poorest areas in China.

Hao Peng, the current Communist Party chief of the state assets watchdog, will assume the role of chairman at State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (Sasac). Photo: Handout

In his new post, Hao is expected to oversee the restructuring and operation of China’s largest industrial conglomerates – a array of around 100 powerful “national champions” with a growing global footprint.

In comparison, Xiao had over 30 years of experience in the non-ferrous metal industry and attracted global headlines briefly in 2009 with a failed attempt by the Aluminium Corporation of China to acquire global mining giant Rio Tinto.