Technological innovation has promoted the healthy development of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs), said Li Rongrong, minister of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

He made the remarks at the International Investment Forum of the Ninth China International Fair for Investment and Trade, which opened Thursday at Xiamen, a scenic city in east China's Fujian Province.

Technological innovation has promoted the growth of Chinese SOEs and in 2005, 15 Chinese SOEs were listed among the world's top 500 firms, he said.

The 169 SOEs under the SASAC supervision have 476 technological centers, Li said.

The SOEs won 5,646 state or provincial level innovation prizes from 2002 to 2004 and about 23,000 new products were put into production, while nearly 7,500 kinds of techniques improved, according to SASAC statistics.

The official said some of China's aeronautic and space technologies have already caught up with the international standards and the TD-SCDMA technology of Chinese telecom industry has become an international 3G standard.

Li said the Chinese government will keep encouraging technological innovation and scientific development so as to sharpen the SOEs' competitive edge in global markets.

(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2005)