A view of a State-owned factory in Huai'an, East China's Jiangsu Province. File photo: VCG

China's cabinet, the State Council, on Wednesday submitted a report on the country's vast State-owned assets to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, China's top legislative body, for the first time, a move analysts say is necessary for further implementation of reforms for State-owned enterprises (SOEs).The detailed report on the current state of the country's State-owned assets to the nation's top legislator could help improve understanding of the assets and a wide range of other areas, including oversight, SOE reform progress as well as preparation for a prolonged trade war with the US, analysts noted.According to the report, China's total State-owned assets reached 183.5 trillion yuan ($26.45 trillion) at the end of 2017 and total debt owned by SOEs totaled 118.5 trillion yuan. State-owned capital and equity was at 50.3 trillion yuan, it added.While the figure itself did not come as a surprise, the move to report such data to the NPC Standing Committee is of great significance and signals policymakers' determination to carry out deep SOE reforms to improve the efficiency and safety of State-owned assets, analysts said."The numbers are largely within the range we have heard before from unofficial or semiofficial sources," said Dong Dengxin, director of the Wuhan University of Science and Technology's Finance and Securities Institute. "But the submission to the NPC Standing Committee guarantees the accuracy of the data and offers a very clear picture of the State-owned assets."This is the first time the State Council has reported such data to the NPC Standing Committee, according to the China News Service. Although the Ministry of Finance and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission have released data on State-owned assets, "they may not have been as comprehensive as those given to the NPC Standing Committee," Dong told the Global Times on Wednesday.The submission, which came after being delayed for months after the legislative body made the request, points to a major step in China's long-planned reforms for its SOEs, according to Tian Yun, vice president of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, noting that there have been calls for such a report for a long time."This means that officials have finally gotten rid of roadblocks for submitting such a report to the country's highest legislative body," Tian told the Global Times, adding that a "clear understanding of the State-owned assets" is necessary for SOE reforms and "there has been much resistance from some interest groups. But it appears that these resisting forces have been removed.""Without a clear understanding of the bigger picture, how could we improve management and oversight of State-owned assets and push forward deep reforms at the SOEs?" he added.Dong also said that reporting such data to the NPC Standing Committee paves the way for further acceleration of SOE reforms. "Once they get a clear picture, they can decide how best to move forward in terms of SOE reform," he said.The report to the NPC Standing Committee could help officials implement a previously announced plan to transfer part of State assets to social security funds, which is aimed at diversifying holdings of State capital, analysts noted."The transfer plan has been very slow, mainly because there was some confusion about the actual scope of State assets, and that's where the report comes in," Dong said.Coming at a time when China is engaged in what analysts believe to be a prolonged trade war with the US, the move also provides China and its policymakers with information about its economic capability and will help the country better prepare and respond to the conflict, analysts added."It is necessary for you to understand your strength before engaging in a war," Tian said.