SOEs to take lead role along Belt and Road

China's central State-owned enterprises will be the country's major force driving the Belt and Road Initiative, with their respective projects, plans and business layouts all in place by 2020, the top State-owned assets regulator said on Monday.

Before putting business plans into practice to further tap Belt and Road markets, the SOEs under central government administration are following stringent rules assessing projects, making feasibility studies and analyzing markets during the period of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).

"SOEs are the market backbones. They have their own plans and strategies for the Belt and Road drive, in addition to the country's overall blueprint for the initiative," Xiao Yaqing, chairman of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, told reporters on Monday.