The National Working Conference on Party Building within State-Owned Enterprises was held in Beijing from October 10 to October 11, 2016. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), President of the People’s Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended the conference and delivered an important speech. Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, made concluding remarks. Members of Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli attended the conference. Minmetals Chairman and Leading Party Group Secretary He Wenbo was present at the conference.

State-owned enterprises serve as an important material and political basis for socialism with Chinese characteristics and an important pillar and reliable force for the CPC’s governance of the country, said President Xi Jinping. Party leadership and building the role of the Party are the glorious tradition of SOEs, the “root and soul” for SOEs, and the unique advantage of SOEs in China. Under the new situation, to follow the Party leadership and strengthen Party building, SOEs must generally: the Party must supervise its own conduct and enforce strict discipline, unwaveringly uphold Party leadership by fully solving problems with Party leadership and weakened and marginalized Party building, give full play to the role of the Party as the leadership core and political core, and guarantee the implementation of the Party’s state policies within the enterprises; effectively promote production and operation, strive to enhance business efficiency and competitiveness and achieve preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets, which shall be the starting and ending points of Party work within the enterprises; the work progress and combat effectiveness of the Party shall be measured as per the development results; Party leadership and supervision over personnel selection and employment shall be strengthened, so as to cultivate a great number of quality corporate executives; intensified efforts shall be made to build grass-roots Party organizations within the state-owned enterprises. Party building and the leadership role of the Party branch are needed wherever there is business development, so as to provide a strong organizational guarantee for making SOEs stronger, bigger and better.

Efforts should be made to strengthen and improve Party leadership, as well as to build the role of the Party in SOEs to make them the most trustworthy and reliable forces of the CPC and the state, stressed Xi. SOEs should also become important forces to implement decisions of the CPC Central Committee, the new development concept, fully deepened reform, major strategies such as the “going out” strategies and the Belt and Road Initiative, enhance overall national power, economic and social development and people’s wellbeing, and to help the Party to win great struggles with many new historical features, added Xi. President Xi also urged the implementation of policies to preserve or increase the value of state assets, enhance the competitiveness of SOEs, strengthen the functions of state assets, promote the reform of SOEs and management skills, and to step up supervision of state assets to unswervingly make SOEs stronger, bigger and better.