Some Chinese firms turn out to have lied about their state pedigree
Nov 14th 2019SHANGHAIIT CERTAINLY SOUNDS pretty powerful: China Nuclear Engineering Construction Group. Once controlled by the People’s Liberation Army, it is now, it says, part of a “central state-owned enterprise (SOE)”, an elite class of firms belonging to the Chinese government. Its website is full of pictures of its executives signing deals around the country. Like any good state-run giant, it is politically correct, its statements echoing Communist Party slogans. There is just one snag: China Nuclear Engineering Construction Group is not a central SOE.As China’s economy slows, defaults have risen sharply. Such failures, though painful, separate strong companies from also-rans, a process other countries know well. In China there is an extra wrinkle: the downturn is also exposing fake SOEs. These are companies that misled creditors about their state connections to suggest they would be supported if they ran into trouble. But when trouble arises, the government is nowhere to be found.Choose us for news analysis that respects your time and intelligenceSubscribe to The EconomistWe filter out the noise of the daily news cycle and analyse the trends that matterWe give you rigorous, deeply researched and fact-checked journalism. That’s why Americans named us their most trusted news source in 2017Available wherever you are—in print, digital and, uniquely, in audio, fully narrated by professional broadcastersThis website adheres to all nine of NewsGuard‘s standards of credibility and transparency.ORContinue reading this articleRegister with an email address