Rumours are sweeping Beijing that SASAC, the entity set up last year to oversee the reform of state-owned enterprises, is reportedly tussling with the powerful Ministry of Finance over who draws up its operational budget.
At the end of a recent conference to draw up SASAC's 2005 budget, the agency is said to have circulated a proposal that it should draw up its operational budget itself rather than let the MOF do it. Observers have interpreted this as a clear bureaucratic turf battle between the two giant entities.
Power to set its own budget would herald a new level of autonomy for SASAC, which...
