MNI China Press Digest, Feb 20: PBOC, NDRC, China-U.S.

     BEIJING (MNI) - The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports

on Thursday:

     The PBOC is guiding money market rates towards normal this week by

injecting less money through open-market operations, according to Zhang Xu, a

fixed-income analyst with Everbright Securities. Zhang's comments were reported

in the Securities Times, which calculated that CNY2.5 trillion of CNY2.8

trillion in repos conducted by the PBOC since 3rd February has matured. The

report also cited Yan Se, chief economist with Founder Securities, who said

monetary policy has shifted focus from short-term stability to restoring the

economy in the medium term. 

     The PBOC's Q4 monetary policy report has emphasized the importance of

meeting annual growth targets amid short-term downward pressure on the economy

due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to Ming Ming, chief fixed-income

analyst at CITIC Securities in a report. The Q4 report also proposed the

strengthening of monetary policy and countercyclical adjustments, and the

overall PBOC policy stance is looser than the Q3 report, Ming said. 

     Local authorities in China should accelerate the orderly return of

employees, safeguard the financing needs of enterprises and prioritize cargo

transportation, according to a report broadcast by the China National Radio. The

report attributed the comments to Tang Shemin, an inspector at the National

Development and Reform Commission, and also said that more than 50% of

industrial operations had resumed in a number of major economic centres

including Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shanghai.  

     The U.S. should not provoke Chinese media and if the U.S. goes too far,

American media agencies in China should be worried, Global Times said in an

editorial published late Wednesday. The editorial followed Beijing's decision to

revoke the credentials of three Wall Street Journal reporters working in China,

along with the U.S. move to treat five Chinese state-run news agencies with U.S.

operations as foreign missions. These incidents show that ideological conflict

between China and the U.S. is intensifying, and this could be a sign of a more

turbulent relationship between the two powers, the editorial said. 

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

--MNI Sydney Bureau; +61 405322399; email: lachlan.colquhoun.ext@marketnews.com

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