The question who is the legitimate owner of trillions of yuan of state-owned assets has long been a controversial issue in China. However, the argument is expected to end soon. According to the Economic Observer, the draft State-owned Assets Law will be entering the second round of deliberation next Tuesday and the ownership of state-owned assets will go to the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

China‘s current state-owned assets, including the assets of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) total almost $8.7 trillion, accounting for 4-5% of the world’s total financial assets.

However, China’s current administration system of its state-owned assets is very confusing- the PBOC, the State Administration of Foreign Exchanges, the MOF, the Chinese Banking Regulatory Commission, the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission and local governments all have their share of ownership.

Although the draft State-owned Assets Law will confirm the MOF as the owner, many scholars hold different opinions.

Li Zhaoxi, a Deputy Director from the State Council’s Development Research Center, said that China can learn from France by establishing an Equity Holding Bureau and an Inspection Bureau under the current MOF, and these two bureaus should take charge of the administrative and supervision of state-owned assets.

Li Shuguang, one of the drafters of the State-owned Assets Law, insisted that the government should set up a special “State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission” to take on ownership.

Another drafter, Liu Jipeng, argued that the Commission should only act in a supervisory role, while ownership should be distributed among a number of state-owned assets operating companies.

For more details, please read the full story in Chinese

(http://www.eeo.com.cn/Politics/beijing_news/2008/06/24/104122.html).

(China.org.cn by Yan Pei June 24, 2008)