Some senior management posts in large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has drawn a record number of candidates from home and abroad.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council said yesterday that 1,603 people had applied for the 22 senior posts in the enterprises, managed directly by the central government.

With about 73 people fighting for one post, a historical high, the competition is really intense, China Youth Daily quoted an SASAC official as saying.

Twenty-five of the applicants are foreign nationals, an SASAC statement said, without clarifying whether they are of Chinese origin. Also, 10 of the candidates are from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, and Taiwan.

The vacancies include senior posts like that of the deputy general manager in China Netcom Group Corp, the second largest fixed-line telecom operator in the country. More than 100 people have applied for the post.

To facilitate the selection of the overseas talents, SASAC has chosen some cities abroad for interviews.

SASAC Chairman Li Rongrong said applications were invited both from home and abroad to optimize human resources distribution globally, which in turn will prepare the central enterprises to compete in the international market as early as possible.

Central enterprises mean large-scale SOEs, which are the leading vital industries and play a pivotal role in the national economy.

Their total revenue rose from 300.6 billion yuan (US$39.7 billion) in 2003 to 754.7 billion yuan (US$99.7 billion) last year. And, their total and net assets has risen 47.4 and 48.7 percent to 12.27 trillion yuan (US$1.6 trillion) and 5.35 trillion yuan (US$707 billion).

Also, a major reform is underway in these SOEs as part of SASAC's plans to trim and integrate about one-third of the existing ones to make them more competitive.

The number of central enterprises is 159, but it is likely to be down to 80-100 by 2010.

Li said some key sectors such as armaments, power generation and supply, oil and petrochemicals, telecom, coal, aviation and shipping industries should be under the "absolute control" of the State.

(China Daily July 13, 2007)