China Press Digest: Wednesday, August 16

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

Wednesday, August 16:

     The military stand-off between India and China over their disputed border

escalated with an altercation Tuesday near Pangong Lake that resulted in minor

injuries on both sides, the South China Morning Post reported Wednesday. The

incident was confirmed by police in the disputed region. China and India have

been locked in a two-month stand-off at another part of their 3,500-kilometer

(2,175-mile) border. In June, India tried to stop China from building a road in

the area. An Indian government minister who was not identified told the

newspaper that the Indian government had to act to stop the Chinese road

construction as "it had come too close for comfort." (South China Morning Post)

     The cooling down of the property market will not affect Chinese economic

growth but instead will be beneficial to the quality and efficiency of the

economy, the Securities Daily said in a front-page commentary Wednesday.

Economic data released Monday showed that property investment this year through

July grew 7.9% from the same period last year, 0.6 percentage point lower than

in the January-to-June period. It was mainly the service sector that supported

China's gross domestic product growth of 6.9% in the first half, which was 0.2

percentage point higher than that in the first half of last year. On the other

hand, the property sector contributed 6.2% to economic growth, while the

proportion in the same period last year was 8.2%. It shows that a reasonable

cooling of the property market will not drag down the speed of economic growth,

the newspaper argued. Chinese GDP will grow smoothly while maintaining

stability, and even a slowdown of 0.1 to 0.2 percentage point would be, in fact,

"a reasonable and normal fluctuation," it said. (Securities Daily)

     Chinese investors have been buying large amounts of real estate assets in

London, spending around CNY31.7 billion in the 90 days beginning May 11 based on

the May exchange rate, the Securities Daily reported Wednesday. Depreciation of

the pound caused by the effects of Britain's plan to leave the European Union

makes it an opportune time for Chinese investors to buy into London's property

market. They mainly invest in commercial and residential property, both for risk

prevention and because of strong liquidity conditions in London. Though Chinese

domestic supervision of overseas investment is tightening, Chinese investors'

asset allocation abroad will not shrink because they need to invest the money

accumulated during China's high-speed economic growth in recent years.

(Securities Daily)

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

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

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