It's about performance, not ownership structure

Zou Lei believes State-owned enterprises will continue to play a key role in China's economic development.

The president of Harbin Electric Corp, one of China's largest domestic power generation equipment manufacturers, says that in the current SOE-reform debate there is a danger of becoming too obsessed with ownership structures.

"It is the word 'company' that matters and not the particular kind of ownership form. Whether a company is an SOE or private, so long as its products and services are competitive, it will be able to compete and make a contribution to national economic development," he says.