The net profits of Chinese central State-owned enterprises (SOEs) hit 1.08 trillion yuan ($160.9 billion) during the first half of this year, up 6.1 percent year-on-year, according to the State-owned Assets and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC).

In the first half of this year, central SOEs raked in 19.2 trillion yuan in operating revenue and 1.4 trillion yuan in combined profits, increasing 12 percent and 7.1 percent year-on-year respectively.

The stellar growth turned out to be a hard-earned victory given that the recent COVID outbreaks had disrupted China's economic revival this year. After a strong start in early 2022, China's economy growth slowed to 0.4 percent in the second quarter, falling short of market expectations.

The fact that China's central SOEs have withstood the pressures from COVID disruption is a testament to the effectiveness of their continuous efforts of reform and restructuring.

As of this May, about 94.7 percent of the measures outlined in China's Three-Year Action Plan (2020-22) for central SOEs had been put into place. As many as 99.9 percent of 12,700 subsidiaries of central SOEs had already chose their boards of directors. Those with a majority of outside directors account for 99.3 percent of the total.

Central SOEs have also made notable progress in their strategic restructuring and professional integration. For instance, big strides were made by the China Oil & Gas Pipeline Network Corporation, Ansteel Group and China Poly Group Corp in the reorganization of their main business operations.

Performance-based appraisal system has been adopted everywhere without exception. A system of equity incentives was implemented in 182 listed enterprises held by central SOEs, while equity and dividend incentives were adopted by 497 sci-tech firms controlled by central SOEs.

Thanks to mixed-ownership reform, central SOEs attracted a total of 190 billion yuan capital investment in the first half of this year.

In the second half of this year, SASAC says it will make greater efforts to reach its development targets for the overall year, enhance quality and efficiency in the development of centrally-administered SOEs, to ensure China's economic growth falls within a reasonable range.