MNI China Press Digest, Dec 14: Sino-US, Bond Defaults, Huawei

     BEIJING (MNI) - The following lists highlights from Friday's China press:

     China and the U.S. have reached consensus in the area of agricultural

products, energy and automobiles during trade consultation and more details will

follow, Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday night citing Gao Feng, a spokesman

at the Ministry of Commerce. At present, the two sides remain in close

communication over the details of the consultation and it is progressing

smoothly. China would welcome US negotiators to China and Chinese negotiators

are open to visiting the US, the report said citing Gao.

     Defaults in the bond market are becoming the normality, as both the number

and total of defaults has more than doubled since last year, the 21st Century

Business Herald on Friday citing data from the Wind terminal. So far this year,

there have been 126 bonds defaults, totalling CNY116.5 billion, both record

highs. While in 2017, there were only 43 defaults valued at CNY38.5 billion, the

newspaper said. The rash of bond default has been triggered largely by corporate

operating difficulties amid the slowing economy. As many companies are in the

habit of using short-term financing to fulfil long-term capital needs, they are

likely to face liquidity issues when they can't roll over debt, the newspaper

said, citing Tao Dong, chief economist at Credit Suisse's Asia region.

     In an op-ed piece published online in Canada's Globe and Mail, Lu Shay,

China's ambassador to Ottawa said the detention of Huawei's CFO isn't purely a

legal matter, but a political witch-hunt of a Chinese tech firm by the US

government . In his op-ed, Lu said that many western countries still have a

cold-war mentality, as they believe China as a socialist country is abnormal,

and worry that China will surpass them too quickly in economic development and

science and technology.

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

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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