Exclusive | As trade war escalates, China intensifies role of state-owned enterprises
Upcoming Beijing conference will show China has no intention of reducing the role of state-owned firms, even though they are a sticking point with Washington
Beijing has affirmed the leading role of state firms in China’s technological and economic progress amid the escalating trade war with the United States, with a major nationwide conference planned for the end of September.
Two sources have confirmed to theSouth China Morning Post that the conference will be chaired by China’s top economic adviser and will showcase Beijing’s strong support for state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Washington’s strong objection to the prominent role of SOEs in the Chinese economy is at the heart of the trade conflict.
Vice-Premier Liu He – President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser and chief trade negotiator with the US – is expected to urge China’s state enterprises to “make breakthroughs in key aspects” of cutting-edge technologies and call on them to “take a leading role at the front” of the country’s drive to make technological progress, according to one source involved in the planning for the conference.
Speaking to the Post on condition he not be identified, the source said the meeting would highlight the role of SOEs in advancing technological innovation as the government pushes ahead with its plan to play a large, if not dominant, global role in 10 major hi-tech sectors by 2025.
A second source, close to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the government agency that supervises state-owned assets, said Liu would use the conference to lay out a set of guidelines for further SOE reforms.
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The conference is expected to be held at the end of this month, but a specific date has yet to be decided.
