China Press Digest: Monday, July 31

     BEIJING (MNI) - The following are highlights from the China press for

Monday, July 31:

     In response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tweet over the weekend saying

China is doing "nothing" to help denuclearize North Korea, Huanqiu.com, a

website associated with the official newspaper Global Times, said in a

commentary late Sunday that Trump's remark was a "layman's comment." It is

unreasonable for Trump to blame China for the problem, and this remark should

not be seen as American policy. Trump's remark that "China could easily solve

the problem" is the kind of comment made by an outsider who has only limited

knowledge of the Korean problem. The U.S. is always trying to take charge in

solving the North Korean threat, Huanqiu said, adding that the United States

should respect China's proposals on the problem. China is the country paying the

highest cost to solve the problem, like the sanctions Beijing has already

imposed on North Korea. Washington has put Beijing in a bind on the Korean

Peninsula problem, especially with its deployment of the THAAD anti-missile

defense system in South Korea, which seriously threatens China's national

security, Huanqiu said. (Huanqiua/Global Times)

     The China Banking Regulatory Commission's focus in the second half of the

year will be on the industry contributing more to the real economy, as well as

on implementing risk controls and deepening reforms, the commission said in a

statement Saturday on its website at the conclusion of its half-year work

meeting in Beijing. The commission stressed the need to deal more strongly with

bad loans and prevent new loans from increasing too sharply, and the need to

control risks in the banking sector, including liquidity. The commission also

said supervision needs to be strengthened in the bill business, cross-sector

business, banks' lending to the property sector and local government financing.

It announced it would try to enact 18 new regulations by the end of the year.

     Controlling financial risks will be the next focus for monetary and fiscal

policies, the Economic Information Daily, a newspaper under the official Xinhua

news agency, said Monday. The newspaper based its forecast on the announcements

that followed recent government meetings, adding that prudent monetary policy

will continue. Analysts say that deleveraging and risk prevention will be major

tasks, and that monetary policy will trend neither tight nor loose, the

newspaper said. It also cited comment on Friday from the China Banking

Association's chief economist, Ba Shusong, that returning to a prudent interest

rate level will provide the most beneficial monetary environment for the steady

slowdown of debt ratios.(Economic Information Daily)

     China's public-private partnership programs are developing rapidly, but

their supervision needs to be strengthened, the official Xinhua news agency

reported Sunday. As of the end of June, 13,554 registered projects had a total

investment of CNY16.3 trillion, of which 2,021 projects were confirmed with an

investment of CNY3.3 trillion. Wang Yiming, vice director of the Development

Research Center of the State Council was quoted as saying China's public-private

partnerships are now in the fast lane. A researcher from the Meng Chun center

said that local governments need to abandon illegal practices to get financing

through PPP projects and that partnership development needs to be standardized

and better regulated, the report said. (Xinhua) 

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: rich.dirks@marketnews.com

--MNI BEIJING Bureau; +1 202-371-2121; email: john.carter@mni-news.com

[TOPICS: M$A$$$,M$Q$$$,MBQ$$$]