MNI China Press Digest March 24: NDRC, Trusts, China-US

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Friday:

• The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has launched a High Quality Development and Common Prosperity Demonstration Zone, in Zhejiang province, according to 21st Century Herald. The zone will focus on advanced manufacturing, with heavy use of robots in workshops and factories. The zone will promote the application of industrial internet, and transform firms from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing". Total labor productivity, and R&D investment intensity will be core indicators, as well as metrics on carbon emissions and environmental protection. Underdeveloped regions will be supported through improving transportation infrastructure, and building industrial parks and enclaves.
• The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) released its final version of reforms for the trust industry that will see firms in the sector classified into separate categories, each with distinct rules, according to the 21st Century Herald. Trust companies will have to submit plans to the CBIRC and enter a three-year transition period to ensure an orderly adaptation and exit non-compliant business . The final version remains largely unchanged from the previous draft version, with wording added to obligate firms to ensure investor awareness of the nature of the trust industry, according to the Herald.
• China does not seek to engineer a trade surplus with the US and views its trading relationship as determined by multiple factors such as different economic structures, the international division of labor, and U.S. export controls to China, according to a Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) spokesperson. China called on the U.S. to remove trade restrictions on China, which is beneficial to both sides. In recent years Beijing has imported a large number of agricultural products, automobiles, technology, energy and petrochemical products from the U.S. based on market demand. The spokesperson said forcing the sale of TikTok would undermine the confidence of foreign investors in the U.S. and should be opposed.