In effect, it is just another way for troubled Chinese companies to put off making hard choices, like laying off employees or closing operations. Rather, businesses can continue to limp along, even when their underlying operations are not making money and customer demand has evaporated.

Such problems have been at the root of China’s economic issues, as many state-owned enterprises, or S.O.E.s, and private companies have continued to roll over the debt and keep their operations going. The government has supported the tactic, in an effort to avert mass layoffs and maintain social stability.

The new approach is “in a nutshell, very bad news for S.O.E. reform and, more specifically, for the solvency of Chinese banks,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, the chief economist for Asia at Natixis, a French investment bank.

At this point, it is unclear how widespread this strategy has become among Chinese companies. The shipbuilder, China Huarong Energy Company Limited, had to disclose the move only because it is listed on the Hong Kong stock market. Mainland companies not listed overseas do not face the same stringent rules.

Two finance specialists with ties to mainland China regulators say the government is working on a broader plan to allow troubled companies to repay loans with shares instead of cash. They declined to speak on the record, citing the sensitivity of the issue within China. Reuters on Thursday reported on regulators’ efforts to help ease banks’ bad debt.

Officials at the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, and the China Banking Regulatory Commission could not be reached for comment late Thursday night. Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank’s governor, and three of his deputies are scheduled to hold a news conference on Saturday morning in Beijing, near the session of the National People’s Congress.