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.