China will speed up restructuring of its state-owned enterprises in the second half of the year, forcing mergers of large conglomerates and accelerating sales of non-strategic assets across a wide range of sectors, say senior government officials.

Beijing has largely left the task of restructuring to state-owned enterprises to manage themselves but the government will now begin driving the process, Wang Huisheng, president and chief executive of the largest state-owned industrial holding company, told the Financial Times yesterday.

China has previously said it intends to reduce the number of giant state enterprises under central government control from 150 to as few as 80 by 2010, a goal Beijing now feels it cannot meet without direct intervention.