China SASAC chief: Reform of northeast's state-owned firms will take time

BEIJING (Reuters) - Reform of China's state-owned firms based in the country's northeast will take time, the head of the country's state assets regulator said on Tuesday. Xiao Yaqing, chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), also told reporters that private firms are playing a bigger role in the world's second-largest economy. He said he is not concerned about competition between state-owned firms and private ones. Xiao was speaking on the sidelines of China's annual meeting of parliament. (Reporting by Muyu Xu, Shu Zhang and Se Young Lee; Editing by Richard Borsuk)