MNI China Press Digest, May 14: Tariffs, Yuan, Land and Jobs

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

Tuesday:

     China will take further countermeasures following raising tariffs on $60

billion of U.S. goods as high as 25%, the Global Times said in an op-piece.

China has plenty of tools for countermoves and aims to hit the U.S. precisely

without hurting itself, the paper said. The U.S.'s tariff hikes are very much

like spraying bullets, which will cause a lot of self-inflicted harm and are

hard to sustain in the long term, the GT added.

     The yuan is unlikely to continue to depreciate significantly, though it

will be under pressure for a short period of time, as external headwinds sour

market sentiment, the Financial News, a newspaper run by the central bank, said

in the front page today. At present, the forex market is not expecting a much

weaker yuan, and the offshore market expects the yuan to be 6.87 to 6.88 per

dollar a year out, which is about 500 bps weaker than the current level, the

newspaper said citing Xie Yunliang, chief analyst at Minsheng Securities. This

compared to January 2016 and January 2017, during when the yuan was expected to

depreciate by more than 2,800 and 3,100 bps, the paper added.

     The land market in second-tier cities continues to ramp up, driven by

credit expansion after the Chinese New Year, with property developers finding it

less difficult to finance, the Economic Information Daily said citing Zhang

Dawei, chief analyst at Centaline Property. Second-tier cities surveyed by the

Centaline Property sold a total of CNY293.3 billion of land in April, a two year

high, the newspaper said. The land transaction price continue to rise amid the

market recovery, reaching a one-year high, as well as the rising premium rate

which set a new high since 2H 2018, the newspaper said.

     CHINA: China's government must prioritize promoting jobs and prevent large

scale unemployment, a statement on the government website says. On Monday,

Premier Li Keqiang noted continued employment pressures, particularly with a

record number of new graduates and ongoing uncertainties dampening job

stability.

--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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