China’s central SOEs running over 3,000 projects under BRI

By Liu Zhiqiang from People’s Daily

 

Chinese central government-run state-owned enterprises (SOEs) had undertaken 3,116 demonstration and influential projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, ranging from infrastructure construction to international cooperation on production capacity, the country’s state asset regulator said.

 

The central SOEs have taken up 50 percent of the infrastructure projects already underway or in the pipeline, with contract value of more than 70 percent, according to State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

 

According to the figures, central government-controlled SOEs had 10,791 overseas units in 185 countries and regions at the end of 2017, and their foreign assets totaled more than 7 trillion yuan ($1 trillion) in the same period, with annual operating revenue and profit reaching 4.7 trillion yuan and 106.4 billion yuan respectively.

 

The SOEs are also trying to localize their operation overseas, along with protecting environment, actively serving the public, and improving local livelihoods. They’ve played an active role in promoting coordinated development and cultural exchanges in host countries.

 

About 85 percent employees working at these SOE units outside China are local citizens, with the figure increasing to over 90 percent at some enterprises.