China Investment Corporation: Strike a balance between functionality and profitability, strengthen support around key areas, and better demonstrate the role of the financial "national team."

China Investment Corporation: Strike a balance between functionality and profitability, strengthen support around key areas, and better demonstrate the role of the financial "national team."

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The "Suggestions of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" (hereafter referred to as "Suggestions") outlines a grand blueprint for China's development in the next five years, with important arrangements for accelerating the building of a strong financial country.

In recent years, China Investment Corporation (hereafter referred to as "CIC") has actively integrated into the national development agenda, steadily promoted the implementation of its strategic plan, continuously optimized asset allocation and investment layout, diligently fulfilled the entrusted management responsibilities of state-owned financial capital, focused on enhancing its ability to coordinate development and safety, and made new progress in high-quality development. What valuable experience has CIC accumulated during this process? How will CIC further improve the quality and level of overseas investment during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, strengthen, optimize, and increase state-owned financial capital, and contribute to the construction of a strong financial country through its own high-quality development? Around these issues, a Financial Times reporter interviewed Zhang Qingsong, Party Secretary and Chairman of CIC.

Financial Times Reporter: The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was held at a critical time when China is about to achieve the main goals and tasks of the "14th Five-Year Plan", laying a solid foundation and making comprehensive efforts toward basically realizing socialist modernization. How will CIC ensure the study, publicity, and implementation of the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee?

Zhang Qingsong: CIC insists on making the study, publicity, and implementation of the spirit of the Plenary Session a major political task, with the implementation of the "Suggestions" as the key, devising detailed arrangements, carefully organizing, comprehensively implementing, and quickly igniting a wave of enthusiasm for studying, publicizing, and implementing the spirit of the session throughout the company system.

Timely communication and study, sincerely enhancing political, ideological, and action consciousness for implementing the Plenary Session’s deployments. Hold special meetings of the Party Committee to deeply understand the significance of the session, major achievements of the "14th Five-Year Plan", grasp the main content of the "Suggestions", and consciously unify thoughts and actions with the Central Committee's assessment of the situation and task arrangements.

Careful research and deployment, creating a strong atmosphere for studying and publicizing the spirit of the session. Develop work plans, deploy nine key tasks, integrate the session’s spirit into various Party School teaching arrangements to achieve full training coverage; based on the characteristics of numerous, lengthy, and broad party building points, guide enterprises to refine and implement measures in line with industry characteristics, improving work relevance and effectiveness.

In-depth discussions to accurately grasp new deployments and requirements from the session. The Party Committee’s leading group holds special discussions, guiding over 400 party committees at all levels to conduct centralized seminars, driving more than 5,000 grassroots party organizations and party members to fully, accurately, and completely understand the essence of the session's spirit.

All-round, multi-angle public and internal publicity, ensuring momentum and direct reach to the grassroots for the implementation of the session's spirit. The main person in charge of the Party Committee gives speeches to all system employees, Party Committee members participate in dual organizational activities and grassroots research, deepening employees’ understanding of the session's spirit. Make full use of the “CIC Ecosystem” publicity platform, launch special columns, and carry out various promotional activities to promote communication and mutual learning.

Deeply plan and practically implement key tasks, adhere to target-oriented approaches to promote high-quality development. With strict Party governance as the fundamental guarantee and high-quality development as the main theme, compile a new round of strategic planning, actively serve the construction of a strong financial country, strive to build a first-class financial enterprise, assist the successful launch of the "15th Five-Year Plan", and continuously transform the results of learning and implementing the session's spirit into powerful motivation for high-quality development.

Financial Times Reporter: During the "15th Five-Year Plan", how will CIC build a world-class sovereign wealth fund and contribute to the construction of a strong financial country through its own high-quality development?

Zhang Qingsong: CIC will fully, deeply, and accurately grasp the strategic deployment of the session, continue to build a world-class sovereign wealth fund, and strive to make greater contributions to the construction of a strong financial country.

We will uphold and strengthen the Party's comprehensive leadership, unswervingly follow the uniquely Chinese path of financial development. The session sets out six major principles, with comprehensive Party leadership as the foremost, providing important guidance for our path. CIC will resolutely implement the Central Committee’s decisions, improve the Party's leadership system, ensure Party leadership throughout reform and development. Continuously strengthen the Party’s innovative theoretical armament, conduct focused education as arranged by the Central Committee, guide cadres and employees to improve political competence. Persistently advance strict Party governance, normalize and strengthen work style, foster a healthy political environment. We will stick to innovation while fulfilling our responsibilities, using high-quality development of the sovereign wealth fund to serve building a strong financial country. The session sets out strategic tasks, giving CIC clear direction for leveraging functional role and advancing high-quality development.CIC will uphold a correct view of achievements, balance functional and profit objectives, and enhance core functions and competitiveness in overall integration. With a spirit of tackling difficulties and continuous struggle, we will build a more mature, professional, efficient, and robust investment institution, improve management of state-owned financial capital, guide directly managed enterprises to strive for excellence. Give full play to system-wide synergies, strengthen support for key areas, and better deliver the "national team" role in finance.

We will coordinate development and safety, build a robust security shield for high-quality development. The session makes coordinated development and safety one of the "six persistences", providing basic guidelines for CIC’s pursuit of safe development. CIC will resolutely implement the overall national security concept, proactively adapt to profound and complex changes in the development environment, strengthen comprehensive risk management, improve asset allocation adaptability, and enhance portfolio agility. Guide directly managed enterprises to uphold proper business, performance, and risk concepts, develop counter-cyclical, all-weather capabilities, firmly guard against major risks.

Financial Times Reporter: Expanding high-level opening-up is also an important task during the "15th Five-Year Plan". What considerations does CIC have for improving the quality and level of overseas investment and serving high-level opening-up?

Zhang Qingsong: CIC is thoroughly studying and implementing the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, the Central Economic Work Conference, and the National Financial System Work Conference, accurately grasping the deployment requirements of the "Suggestions", coordinating high-quality development and high-level security, and actively and prudently managing overseas investment.

First, always remember the original aspiration and mission of investing for the nation, and actively serve overall national development. Leverage the sovereign wealth fund platform and synergy across CIC’s system, steadily advance major investment projects such as the National Venture Capital Guidance Fund, actively increase investment in emerging markets and regions, explore ways to promote RMB internationalization through overseas investment, and serve national development.

Second, focus on improving independent investment capability, strive to build a world-class sovereign wealth fund. In public market investment, we will optimize strategy structure and layout, focus on key areas, increase proprietary investment, and continuously improve investment management efficiency. In non-public market investment, vigorously expand cooperation with industry enterprises and institutions, actively build cooperation frameworks and platforms, steadily increase co-investment and direct investment, continuously enhancing the initiative and influence in international investment cooperation.

Third, uphold safety as a top priority, constantly enhance the resilience and quality of the total portfolio. Make risk prevention a perpetual theme of financial work, strengthen the sense of constant vigilance, avoid dangerous areas, turbulent regions, and risky industries, continuously diversify regional layout, improve portfolio management mechanisms, build a comprehensive risk management system, focus on key operational links to enhance security and control, and create a more resilient, higher-quality, and CIC-characteristic total portfolio.

Financial Times Reporter: At this new starting point, how will CIC promote the building of entrusted management institutions for state-owned financial capital, further strengthen, optimize, and expand state-owned financial capital?

Zhang Qingsong: Guided by the spirit of the session, we will build Central Huijin into a central-level entrusted management institution for state-owned financial capital with distinct Chinese characteristics, prominent strategic role, and obvious professional advantages, and strive to write a new chapter in the management of state-owned financial capital.

First, steer the ship of development steadily, strengthening Party building to create new prospects. With political construction at the core, comprehensively strengthen all aspects of Party building. Intensively advance strict Party governance, strengthen discipline and work style in director and equity management teams, foster a healthy political environment. Fully leverage the fighting fortress role of grassroots Party organizations and the exemplary role of Party members, transforming the session’s spirit into powerful momentum for company development.

Second, deepen the roots of development, serve the real economy and show new achievements. Use corporate governance as the starting point, fully play the role of performance evaluation as a "command stick", guide controlled and invested institutions to focus on their main responsibilities and businesses, optimize resource allocation, innovate service modes, precisely support national major strategies, continuously increase support for key areas and weak links in the real economy, and diligently accomplish the “Five Major Financial Articles.” Further leverage the diverse business advantages of the CIC system and improve collaborative working mechanisms.

Third, gather the power of development, achieve new breakthroughs in capacity building. Continuously deepen reforms, stimulate endogenous momentum, optimize the equity management system, strengthen professional capacity building, unify effective management and supportive empowerment. Promote governance improvements, optimize layout, enhance core functions and competitiveness of controlled and invested institutions.

Fourth, solidify the foundation of development, achieve new results in financial risk prevention and control. Strengthen risk awareness and bottom-line thinking, improve comprehensive risk management system. Strengthen transparent monitoring of state-owned financial capital, leverage the early warning role of dispatched directors, actively use digital technology, achieve early identification, early warning, early detection, and early handling of risks. Press on directly managed enterprises to shoulder primary responsibility for risk prevention and control, focus on key risk areas, work to resolve existing risks and curb new ones, and build a robust security shield for high-quality development.

Source: Financial Times

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