MNI China Press Digest Sep 2: SME Loans, Cmdty Prices, Kerry

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Thursday:

• A new CNY300 billion refinancing initiative announced by the State Council on Wednesday will help banks boost support for SMEs and provide more low-interest loans, the 21st Century Business Herald said. The new refinancing amount approved by the government is about a third of the CNY888 billion outstanding at the end of June, the newspaper said. From 2020 to May 2021, China's banks provided CNY6.3 trillion SME loans, it said. The State Council also urged using local government special bonds to boost investment. However, the economy is likely to maintain a slower pace of growth given the sharp decline in real estate investment, limited rebound in infrastructure spending and more stable growth in social financing, the newspaper said citing Wu Ge, chief economist of Changjiang Securities.
• China should increase its strength in setting prices of global commodities as its futures market opens up, and focus on promoting soybeans, palm oil, PTA and crude oil in Asian trading hours, the Securities Times reported citing a speech by Vice Chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission Fang Xinghai. China will steadily promote the development and listing of new commodity and financial futures, as well as continue to expand the range of specific open varieties, promote the institutional opening, and strengthen cross-border supervision with overseas regulators, the newspaper cited Fang as saying.
• The U.S. must understand that its cooperation with China on climate change cannot be detached from the general environment of China-U.S. relations, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a video call with U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, who is on a visit to China's Tianjin, southwest of Beijing. The U.S. should stop seeing China as a threat and adversary, and stop besieging and suppressing China, but actively respond to terms proposed by China, Wang said. Bilateral relations have undergone a sharp decline mainly due to the U.S. having made a major strategic misjudgment against China, said Wang.