BEIJING — China will strengthen the management of overseas State-owned property rights held by centrally-administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and prevent the loss of overseas State-owned assets, the regulator said in a statement issued on Jan 21.

The country will optimize the structure of overseas State-owned property rights, said the statement issued by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council.

All central SOEs shall strictly manage the registration of overseas property rights and handle the registration of overseas property rights through an information system of the SASAC to ensure timely, complete and accurate reports of the situation of overseas property rights, it said.

Net profits of the country's 97 central SOEs expanded 2.1 percent year-on-year in 2020 to 1.4 trillion yuan ($215.77 billion), official data showed.