【Abstract】As central SOEs increasingly go global， the internal and external environments for their foreign affairs administration are undergoing profound changes. This thesis， using a SWOT method， gives a comprehensive analysis of their strength， weakness， opportunity and threat under new situations， and provides thoughts and methods on constructing a greater pattern for their foreign affairs work. The aim is to boost their international cooperation management， inject new vitality to foreign-related work and make their international operations more healthy and sustainable.
　　【Key words】foreign affairs work in central SOEs； internationalized operations； mechanism building
　　As a major part of internationalized operation management， foreign affairs work is an important guarantee to the international strategies of central state-owned enterprises （“central SOEs” hereinafter）. During the course of their internationalized operations， foreign affairs work plays a major supportive and driving role in a comprehensive， multi-tiered manner.
　　I. Main contents of foreign affairs work in central SOEs.
　　Foreign affairs work is a general term for all foreign-related tasks， covering many fields including diplomacy， trade， finance， tax，， customs and port management. Foreign affairs is an important field of management， in which a foreign affairs division， acting upon state policies， guides and handles foreign-related tasks and problems.
　　In the traditional mode， the foreign division in a SOE is confined to the “service plus management” dual role. In the principle of “unified leadership， specialized department， layered responsibility， and coordination”， it carries out tasks of all foreign visits （including short-term business trips and long-term station abroad for the projects） and inviting foreigners to visit China. This is in nature a role-oriented static mode of work.
　　As the Chinese economy developed fast and enterprises grew in strength， many central SOEs adopted a “go global” strategy. As their foreign communication grew in frequency and depth， the strategy has lent new meaning to foreign affairs management， which as a result has been expanded from traditional tasks—approval of trips abroad on business， group organizing and reception—to such tasks as foreign information collection， investigation of cooperative partners， building of communication channels and recruitment of overseas talents， which has pushed foreign affairs divisions to the very frontline of enterprises’ overseas expansion and international exchanges.