MNI China Press Digest, June 18: RRR Cuts, China-U.S., Virus

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

on Thursday:

     China will push the financial industry to sacrifice CNY1.5 trillion in

profits this year to support businesses through a variety of policy measures,

according to a statement on the State Council website. The statement, which

followed an executive meeting late Wednesday, said the measures would include

guiding bond interest rates lower, issuing cheaper loans, deterring loan

repayments for SMEs, and granting more unsecured loans to small companies and

cutting fees. The PBOC should also use reserve requirement ratio cuts and

relending tools to maintain ample liquidity and ease corporate funding

pressures, the statement read. 

     China's top diplomat, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, met U.S. Secretary of

State Mike Pompeo in Hawaii on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the People's

Daily. The two parties fully expressed their positions, the state media said,

describing the dialogue as "constructive". The officials agreed to take action

to implement the consensus reached by their respective Presidents and maintain

communication and contacts, the newspaper said. 

     The resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic in Beijing was discovered early

and is still on the rise, CCTV News reported citing Pang Xinghuo, deputy

director of the Beijing Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of

new Covid-19 cases may continue to grow for a certain period, given that the

Xinfadi market - where the cluster of infections was centred - is the largest

wholesale food market in Beijing with high traffic volume and an extensive

logistic networks. The initial conclusion is that the infection was caused by

interpersonal transmission or the environmental pollution of goods, Pang said.

The current cases are mainly common and mild cases, accounting for 95% of the

total, Pang added. 

     China has demanded that India carry out a thorough investigation into the

recent border incident and severely punish those who should be held accountable,

said Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a telephone call

late Wednesday with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. According to

a statement on the ministry website, Wang asked his counterpart to strictly

discipline Indian frontline troops and immediately stop all provocative actions.

Wang said that on Monday night Indian frontline border troops blatantly broke

the consensus reached at commander-level talks between the two sides. Although

the situation in the Galwan Valley had eased, Indian troops once again crossed

the Line of Actual Control in a deliberate provocation and violently attacked

Chinese officers and soldiers who were there to negotiate. This triggered fierce

physical conflicts and casualties, the statement read. India must not misjudge

the current situation or underestimate China's firm will to safeguard its

territorial sovereignty, Wang added. 

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

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

[TOPICS: M$A$$$,M$Q$$$,MI$$$$]