MNI China Press Digest April 3: Yellen, Productive Forces, QE

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Wednesday:

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will visit China from April 4-9, the Ministry of Finance said on its website Wednesday following a phone call between the two heads of state on Tuesday. Xinhua News Agency described the call as a “candid and in-depth exchange”, while Chinese President Xi Jinping said the bilateral relations are stabilising but negative factors had also increased, which required the attention of both parties. The U.S. is not “de-risking” but creating risks by making an ever longer list of sanctions against Chinese companies, and China will take action if Washington insists on suppressing China's high-tech development, Xinhua cited Xi as saying.
• SMEs form the backbone of China’s development of new productive forces, according to Zhang Guoqing, vice premier of the State Council. Zhang, speaking on a recent research tour, said SOEs should actively support emerging industries and better serve major regional strategies such as the development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Authorities need to support SMEs to actively participate in the construction of supply chains for large enterprises, Zhang added.
• Central banks purchasing government bonds does not itself equal western-style QE, which carries the premise of zero interest rate policy when no other tools are available, according to Wang Jiaqiang, a senior researcher at the China Banking Research Institute. Answering questions from journalists regarding market discussions on the PBOC potentially buying government bonds, Wang added this was a normal operation used to adjust liquidity in the secondary market to affect yields. (Source: Yicai)