At the same time, calls to deleverage have been a major concern of government policy meetings in the past year. Yet Xiao stressed at the news conference that the current debt risk level of central SOEs is "reasonable, appropriate and controllable".
It was also decided at the Sept 27 State Council meeting that apart from asset restructuring, resources will also be directed toward competitive companies or industries through equity cooperation, asset swaps, strategic alliances and joint development.
Li said during the meeting that as reconstruction forges ahead, redundant departments and personnel need to be further streamlined to reduce costs and increase profit.
"The government should stand fast in protecting the legitimate rights of SOE workers, and do their best in helping with job relocation rather than just laying people off," he stressed.
The meeting is the latest move in SOE reforms since the State Council announced a reform timetable in July: China will include all central State-owned enterprises that have not been reformed in a modern corporate system by making them legal entities by the end of 2017. All central SOEs, except financial and cultural ones, will be registered as limited liability companies or joint-equity corporations in accordance with the Company Law, which will accelerate the establishment of an effective and balanced corporate governance structure, based on their legal status, as well as a flexible and efficient marketized management mechanism.
The move is expected to help clear away institutional barriers for further SOE reform.
Figures from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission shows total assets of China's central SOEs reached 50.5 trillion yuan ($7.62 trillion) by the end of 2016, an 80 percent increase from late 2011. In the first half of 2017, central SOEs have made $78.66 billion in net profit, an increase of 18.6 percent compared with the same period last year.
