State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) is an institution directly under the State Council of China that acts as the state's owner for centrally administered, non-financial state-owned enterprises (SOEs). It exercises shareholder functions on the State Council's behalf, performance evaluation, approval of major reorganizations and mergers, and rule-making on the management of state assets. Its mandate is grounded in State Council regulations issued in 2003 and in the 2008 law on state-owned assets in enterprises. By law, SASAC defers to the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party on appointment and removal of SOE top management.

SASAC's remit covers central, non-financial SOE groups. Financial institutions and a few non-financial SOEs (China Railway, China Tobacco, and CITIC Group) are outside this scope. As of 2025 the commission's English-language directory lists 96 central SOE groups, a figure that changes with mergers and restructurings. Central SOEs are concentrated in backbone sectors such as energy, transport, telecommunications and construction, and operate across the domestic economy and international markets.

In 2024 the total assets of central SOEs exceeded 90 trillion yuan (about US$12 trillion) and total profits were about 2.6 trillion yuan (about US$360 billion).

Recent priorities emphasize value creation and capital-market discipline. In 2024 SASAC said market value management would be included in executive appraisals at listed SOEs, and it clarified that central SOEs are prohibited from establishing, acquiring or taking new stakes in financial institutions. The current chair is Zhang Yuzhuo.