China's SOEs vying to be world-class enterprises

State-owned enterprises, as key participants in China's high-quality development and in international competition and cooperation, should enhance their core competitiveness and, through development that is higher-quality, more efficient, and more sustainable, become world-class enterprises, officials said.

Data from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council showed that the total assets of central State-owned enterprises rose from 68.8 trillion yuan ($9.7 trillion) at the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) to 91 trillion yuan by the end of 2024, representing an average annual growth rate of 7.3 percent.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), the value added and total profits of central SOEs are expected to increase by more than 40 percent and 50 percent, respectively, compared with the 13th Five-Year Plan period, while indicators such as labor productivity per employee and return on net assets continue to improve.

Tan Zuojun, vice-chairman of the SASAC, said China is in a critical phase of transforming its development model, optimizing its economic structure, and shifting its growth drivers, making brand development increasingly important and urgent. He noted that giving full play to the leading role of brands and accelerating the creation of world-class enterprises with outstanding brands are active measures to help build a new development paradigm.

In recent years, State-owned enterprises have earnestly studied and implemented the leader's important discourses and instructions on brand development, and have carried out the relevant decisions and deployments of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council China's Cabinet, Tan said.

"Going forward, they should plan brands from a strategic vantage point, lead brand building through independent innovation, expand brands with an international vision, deepen exchanges and cooperation with all parties," he added.

Beyond SOEs, private enterprises should also adopt a broader development vision, learn from outstanding State-owned enterprises and from world-class companies, and establish a positive image of Chinese brands on the international stage, said Wang Shouwen, vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.

According to China's General Administration of Customs, in 2024, private enterprises recorded total imports and exports of 24.33 trillion yuan, up 8.8 percent year-on-year, with their share of China's total foreign trade rising to 55.5 percent.

For the first time, private enterprises became the largest participants in China's high-tech product trade, with high-tech imports and exports up 12.6 percent and their share of the country's total high-tech trade rising by 3 percentage points to 48.5 percent. Their share of China's consumer goods imports exceeded 50 percent for the first time, increasing by 2.8 percentage points year-on-year to 51.3 percent.

Wang called on private enterprises to build brands on the foundation of integrity, strengthen brands through innovation, and cultivate brands with craftsmanship, forging a path of brand growth with Chinese characteristics that embodies the spirit of the times.

Industry associations were also moving to bolster brand-building capacity. Huang Danhua, president of the China Association for Quality, said the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30) is a critical stage for basically realizing socialist modernization.