Time to break SOE's monopoly

In a recent video conference, the State Council leading group for reforming State-owned enterprises stressed that the country's three-year action plan for SOE reform has listed concrete steps to implement the top authorities' top-level design for reforming SOEs over the next three years.

The three-year action plan is to implement the measures outlined by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in late 2017 to push SOEs to adapt themselves to the market-oriented and law-based rules and norms in the new era as soon as possible and assume greater responsibility in an open and innovative environment.

Also, SOEs must become market entities with core competitiveness. The socialist market economic system being developed by China, in which the market plays a decisive role in resource allocation, highlights the creation of an institutional environment for fair competition.

Therefore, SOE reform is essential to promote fair competition and make SOEs equal market players along with other enterprises with different ownerships, to realize marketized allocation of resources and enhance competitiveness.

Thus, we must actively promote the establishment of a modern enterprise system for SOEs, implement the functions and power of the board of directors, improve the market-oriented operation mechanism and vigorously promote the reform of mixed ownership.

Also, more practical measures must be taken to improve the property rights system, strengthen the fundamental role of competition policy, break administrative monopoly and local protectionism, and standardize government behaviors.

And it is necessary for the country to strengthen scientific and technological innovation, improve the level of industrial and supply chains, modernize the supply chain and achieve breakthroughs in core technologies, key parts and raw materials.

So, SOEs should not only play a greater role in leading innovation, but also seek cooperation with private enterprises to promote their mergers, reorganizations and strategic combinations so as to jointly upgrade industrial and supply chains.

This kind of cooperation will help create a joint force enabling the introduction of high-end talents and the application of scientific research fruits.

It is necessary to transform SOEs into equal market players, establish a rule-based market economy and follow the principle of competition neutrality, which means the monopoly of SOEs must be broken.