More SOE heads seen taking up official posts

The appointment of the former head of China National Petroleum Corporation, Jiang Jiemin, as chairman of the State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission marks a new trend of more high-ranking executives entering officialdom, experts say.

Jiang, 58, who is also the first entrepreneur to head the central government agency that oversees State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and their assets since it was established in 2003, took the position on March 18, Su Guifeng, deputy director of the commission's press office, told the Global Times Monday.

Jiang's is not an isolated case. After the massive personnel reshuffle across the country in March, Lou Jiwei, who headed China Investment Corporation, was picked to lead the Ministry of Finance.

Experts say that the promotion of both indicates that more SOE executives are expected to be switched to Party and administrative positions.

"Based on Jiang's over 30 years of experience in the oil and natural gas industry, his professional knowledge will help him make new policies that can propel reforms in economic structure," Yun Jie, director of the administration research department at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Continuing the name-list, Miao Wei, head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, had 23 years of experience in the automobile industry, and Xiao Gang, new head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, was switched from his position as the chairman of Bank of China.

Guo Shengkun, State Councilor and minister of public security, headed the Aluminum Corporation of China Limited.

"Since the 2006 policy that encourages role rotations among officials and executives as a means of training officials, more SOE heads have been moved to government," Xu Xianglin, vice dean of the School of Government at Peking University, told the Global Times, adding that most executives are from key industries such as steelmaking, power and auto manufacturing.

However, Hua Sheng, an economist, pointed out that SOEs and government agencies are almost the same in terms of administrative procedure and bureaucracy.