The development of a mixed ownership economy is of key importance for China's State-owned enterprise (SOE) reform, a senior official with the country's State assets regulator said Wednesday.

China has been reforming the SOE sector since the nation's economic reform and opening-up [in 1978], bringing about a significant improvement in SOE performance and economic benefits, and the reform of SOEs will continue with further efforts to deal with systematic problems down the road, Huang Danhua, vice chairperson of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), told a forum in Beijing.

Pledging to implement reform decisions made at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee, Huang noted that developing a mixed ownership economy and continuing to improve the modern corporate system are key to the country's SOE reform.

A mixed ownership structure not only helps SOEs establish a sound legal person management structure, but encourages privately owned enterprises to break the family business mold as a way of boosting the private sector, Li Yining, one of the country's most well-known economists, also said during the forum.

Such remarks came after another SASAC official's statement that most of the country's SOEs will be reformed into mixed ownership enterprises with only a few exceptions vital to national security to remain solely controlled by the State.

The country is working on a plan to push for the development of a mixed ownership economy and expedite reforms to diversify SOE shareholding structures, Huang Shuhe, also vice chairman of the SASAC, told a press conference held by the State Council Information Office in Beijing on December 19.

State capital could even withdraw totally from SOEs in which State control is not absolutely required and therefore allowing social capital to take a controlling stake in such SOEs, according to Huang, who, however, revealed no specified timetable for when this might take place.

SOEs have long played a significant role in China's economy, and to further reform the State sector has been a high priority for the new leadership, which pledges unprecedented economic reforms ahead allowing the market to play a decisive role.

The SASAC also named a new chief late Tuesday, a few months after Jiang Jiemin - the previous chairman was removed from the position under suspicion of serious disciplinary violations.

Zhang Yi, who was previously deputy head of the SASAC, has now replaced Jiang, according to the commission's website on late Tuesday.