State enterprise reform today

Abstract

For almost 30 years after 1978, state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform was one of the central initiatives of China’s overall economic reform (see Song, this volume). But during the mid-2000s, the impetus behind SOE reform stalled and little was achieved for almost a decade. It was a surprise to many, then, when the November 2013 resolution of the third plenum of the National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) listed SOE reform as first among its substantive sections, raising hopes for a renewal of SOE reform. After a false start in 2014, activity accelerated in 2016, and initiatives and