An engineer assembles an axial-flow compressor at a workshop of the Shaanxi Blower (Group) Co., Ltd., a state-owned enterprise, in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, November 18, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

By the end of 2021, China almost completed its corporate system reform, said a Chinese official from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council on Monday.

The transition into modern enterprises is conducive to building SOEs into independent market players, and is imperative as China continues to deepen the market reform of SOEs and unleash the vitality and impetus of their development, analysts said.

"Currently 97.7 percent of central SOEs and 99.9 percent of regional SOEs competed the corporate system reform as of the end of 2021, a historic breakthrough in the reform of China's SOEs," said Weng Jieming, Deputy Director of the SASAC.

The reform is aimed at transforming the enterprises owned by the people into modern businesses, improving corporate governance structure and establishing a market-oriented operating mechanisms.

The early steps of the corporate system reform started in 1990 and the three-year action plan for SOE reform announced in 2020 has taken the transformation to a new level.

According to Hao Peng, Chairman of the SASAC, the three-year action plan announced in 2020 for the reform of SOEs has delivered remarkable results as a major highlight for deepening the country's reform and opening-up, the China Securities Journal reported in December. 

A modern corporate system with Chinese characteristics and the state asset regulatory system have made substantial progress while market-based reforms of SOE operations have proceeded with strategic reorganizations and professional mergers, Hao said. 

The three-year action plan has seen 70 percent of its goals accomplished, according to Hao, citing multiple instances of strategic consolidation this year, including the launch of the China Electrical Equipment Group Co and the China Logistics Group, among other newly formed state-owned giants.

In the first 11 months of 2021, central SOEs raked in 1.75 trillion yuan ($274.49 billion) in net profits, with petroleum, chemicals, steel and coal mining firms posting an eye-catching growth in earnings, official data showed.