China Press Digest: Monday, September 25

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

Monday, September 25:

     The U.S. should obey World Trade Organization rules and "be cautious about

using trade restriction measures," the head of the China Ministry of Commerce

trade remedy and investigation bureau, Wang Hejun, warned in a statement

Saturday. He gave the warning in response to the U.S. International Trade

Commission's ruling on Friday that solar panel imports, including those from

China, had hurt two American companies, Suniva and SolarWorld Americas. Wang

stressed the U.S. conclusion "not only added uncertainties to the normal

international trade order of solar products, but it's also useless for the

overall healthy and balanced development of the U.S. solar industry." U.S.

President Donald Trump must now decide based on the ITC finding whether or not

to impose tariffs on imported solar panels. Trump is expected to visit China in

November.

     U.S. trade official Robert Lighthizer's accusation that China has broken

trade rules is not accurate and instead shows a trend in the U.S. toward trying

to shift attention from its domestic problems to external issues, creating a

real threat to the international trade system, the official People's Daily said

in a report Monday. The newspaper stressed China is not the one violating trade

rules, citing analysts saying Lighthizer's accusations were inappropriate. China

and the U.S. should continue to focus on trade cooperation to achieve a win-win

situation, analysts were quoted as saying. (People's Daily)

     Foreign investors have had greater access to China's market in the

country's northeastern rust belt as that region struggles to revitalize its

economy, the South China Morning Post reported Sunday, citing Agence

France-Presse. Foreign companies feel more welcome in Liaoning, the only

province in China officially in recession in 2016, posting a 2.5% drop of GDP

growth. The province has also admitted that it had faked GDP growth data from

2011 to 2014, especially in Shenyang, the capital city. The local government has

eased company registration procedures, given three-year visas to family members

of staffers in foreign firms and provided rental discounts for factory and

office space, the report said. The report cited the EU Chamber of Commerce

saying businesses in renewable energy, tourism, agriculture or advanced

technology were well positioned to succeed in Shenyang. (Agence France-Presse)

     The U.S. Federal Reserve shrinking its balance sheet may not have much of a

short-term negative impact on the Chinese economy, but the long-term risks may

not be small, the Economic Information Daily said in a front-page commentary

Monday. In the short term, the Fed's action won't be a great shock to the

Chinese economy, as the process will be gradual and China can manage the impact

on cross-border capital flows and the yuan exchange rate, the report said. The

U.S. economic structure has not improved significantly since the 2008 financial

crisis and the room for the global economy to strengthen is not large, so

China's growth has played a key role in driving global growth. But China's

growth could slow down as policy controls on the property sector increasingly

tighten and production prices increase, the newspaper said. Chinese growth

momentum could slow down in 2018 and 2019 and thus weaken the global economy's

ability to battle against risks caused by the Fed balance sheet cut. (Economic

information Daily)

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

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

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