MNI China Press Digest May 21: Trade, CBIRC, Property Bubble

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

Monday:

     China and the U.S. have reached a consensus while not compromising on

China's bottom line in the trade talks, according to a social media account

managed by the official Communist Party newspaper People's Daily, which cited

Mei Xinyu, a researcher at an academy under China's Ministry of Commerce. China

will not be reducing its exports, though China promised it would increase

imports from the U.S., Mei said. The deal does not require China to reduce trade

surplus with the U.S. by USD200 billion, which the U.S. had demanded in the

first trade negotiation, he said. The deal defends China's right to upgrade

industries and seek further development, Mei noted. 

***Comment: Mei had previously told MNI that China would not agree with the

U.S.'s demand for trade surplus reduction. As the world's two largest economies

have announced the end of the possibility of a trade war, concerns about risks

in the market have fallen, but analysts say China may face more pressure in

reaching its GDP target this year.

     China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission is amending an interim

rule regulating foreign ownership in Chinese commercial banks, said Chen Wenhui,

deputy chairman of the commission, this weekend, according to China Securities

Journal. The commission is also creating detailed rules on financial asset

investment companies and insurance agents, Chen said. Chen highlighted rules

affecting key aspects of China's banking and insurance sectors: reducing

restrictions on foreign investment and on the establishment of foreign financial

institutions in China; expanding business operations of foreign banks; and

improving regulations on foreign banks and investment. Chen stressed risk

controls and the gradual opening up of China's economy and financial sector.

     Chinese cities should rein in a property bubble while they increasingly

enact policies to attract talent to boost local structural reform and

development, Securities Daily said in a commentary. Drawing in talents into

cities should not be a measure to stimulate the development of the local

property market or to consume excessive housing inventory, the Daily said. In

order to attract talents and make them stay, cities should improve the local

industrial and policy environment to create new economic drivers, the Daily

said. Home purchasers flocked to Tianjin City after the city issued new policies

with lower criteria for defining a talent, which caused a new round of property

sales in the city, the newspaper cautioned.

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

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86-10-8532-5998; email: beijing@marketnews.com

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