Improving the management of SOEs would help boost public trust in them, says an article in Oriental Morning Post. The following is an excerpt:

After Li Rongrong, chief of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), predicted State-owned enterprises (SOE) would have better-than-expected profits this year, there were doubts whether their profits would be earned because of their monopoly positions or whether they had fulfilled their social responsibilities.

Many SOEs have publicized their donations to charity. Petro China said it had donated 720 million yuan ($96 million) from 2003 to 2007, the State Grid Company said it had donated 410 million yuan in the last four years while China Life said it donates 15 million yuan every year and has established a charity fund.

But a survey showed nearly 70 percent of the public feel the SOEs have not made a remarkable contribution to boosting social welfare, despite their claims.

The general feeling is that the public does not have close ties with the SOEs.

Very few people know who are in charge of the SOEs, their business structure, their profits or their contributions to society.

Under such circumstances, it is only natural that many view the SOEs as commercial giants earning lucrative profits by taking advantage of their their monopoly positions and other resources.

One way to gain public trust in the SOEs is to let the public actually see the benefits SOEs bring to their lives.

Li said the SASAC would make public the income of SOE managers when time is right. He also said the SOEs would submit their assets, budgets and other financial records to the national legislative for review.

If all these plans are carried out, the SOEs would become businesses owned by the people in the real sense, and would definitely gain their trust.

(China Daily December 25, 2007)