While we all appreciate the work ethic and discipline of the Chinese nation, one is amazed that Mark Barnes, after his "first visit to China" to attend a recent conference, feels he is sufficiently informed to pen an article on its economy and the efficiency of its state firms (China’s powerful mix of technology and state intervention works, August 1). He is obviously unaware that one of the keys to China’s economic rise has been its success in reducing the sprawl of its state firms. In the 1980s, the state sector accounted for nearly four-fifths of China’s output. A big factor behind that country’s remarkable growth since then has been the reduction of these state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to the point where they account for less than a fifth of output today. The reform of China’s SOEs has been a priority for the Xi Jinping administration since 2015. Beijing’s economic plan is to decrease drag on domestic growth by its large firms, which were long plagued by declining performance, r...
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