State Capitalism in China: The Role of National Champions

State capitalism is a system in which markets are controlled by state that seeks primarily a political gain. This is also the case for China, whose government officials perceive this system as the key to ensuring economic growth and maintaining the regime's stability, in other words, maintaining the Communist Party's monopoly on power. This bachelor thesis deals with the functioning of the Chinese version of state capitalism and tries to demonstrate, how the leadership of the country uses its favored enterprises (so-called national champions) to achieve not only economic but also political goals. In the first chapter, the thesis deals with a general theory of state capitalism, including its history and tools that are typical of this system. The second chapter focuses on the state capitalist model of China. It presents the evolution of its formation as a result of China’s economic reforms and analyzes a network of the government bodies, institutions, sovereign wealth funds and, above all, the enterprises which state uses to control the markets. The third chapter examines the strategic use of these enterprises (as the national champions) in two selected fields. The first one focuses on the state’s energy security and the second one on the development of infrastructure, especially in the context of China's current economic effort, called the Belt and Road Initiative. Particular Emphasis is placed on the political gains of Chinese government officials.