China welcomes overseas investors to take over its state-owned enterprises, said Ma Jiantang, Vice- Minister in Charge of the State-owned Assets Supervision Administration Commission (SASAC).

Ma said China would push forward the process of an international merger of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in an orderly and regulated way and within a new ownership system.

He made the remarks at the China Economic Growth Forum 2003 that concluded in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, on Monday.

Ma said overseas investors had already embarked on a process of entering into mergers and consolidations of Chinese SOEs. The principles set by the Communist Party of China on the establishment of a new system of ownership had provided a platform for overseas investors to buy SOEs.

The 198 large key SOEs under the supervision of the State-owned Assets Supervision Administration Commission (SASAC) were busy with restructuring and reform.

Ma said mergers of the SOEs were aimed at improving their international competitiveness by increasing scale and consolidating operations.

As China set the guidelines for a share-holding system as the major form of public ownership and promulgated regulations on the takeover of state-owned enterprises, the door was wide open to foreign investors who wanted to enter the public sector. Ma said the Chinese government would actively push forward the process in an orderly way.
 
(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2003)