MNI China Press Digest, Jan 23: Economy, Property, Sino-Canada

     BEIJING (MNI) - The following lists highlights from Wednesday's China

press:

     China's economy is bound to slow down this year, mainly due to the trade

war and a cooling real estate market, The Paper reported late Tuesday, citing

Fang Xinghai, deputy director of China Securities Regulatory Commission.

However, he underlined that but it was a slowdown, not a collapse. If the

situation worsens, China still has room for fiscal expansion, such as increasing

the issuance of local government special bonds and CGBs, Fang said.

     There are expectations of accelerated reform of the housing and rental

market, land supply and property tax following President Xi Jinping's latest

meeting with major provincial and ministerial cadres, in which he urged them to

"implement" a long-term mechanism to stabilize the smooth development of the

real estate sector, said Securities Daily today.

     Despite attempts by David MacNaughton, Canada's US ambassador, to extricate

Ottawa from the Huawei affair by pushing the U.S. to seek a quick extradition of

CFO Meng Wanzhou, in an op-ed piece, the Global Times says he may have actually

done the opposite. Although the ambassador seems to be implying that Canada is

the scapegoat and will be off the hook as long as the U.S. takes over, the

Global Times warns Canada will face a severe backlash from China putting

bilateral ties in jeopardy if the extradition happens.

--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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