MNI China Press Digest Sept 11: Trade, Inflation, Property Tax

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

Tuesday:

     China should continue its reform and the opening up of its economy, but

should not tailor the process to American needs, the official People's Daily

said. China is in a key position to tackle various challenges, and trade war is

one of those challenges. China has to face such challenges in its path to

becoming a "strong country" from an emerging economy, the newspaper said. China

should not panic, but instead calmly tackle these problems and focus on its own

affairs, the commentary said. The Chinese people should be more confident and

united, it stressed.

     Growth of China's consumer inflation is expected to be steady and

controlled, Shanghai Securities News reported. Core CPI growth only accelerated

by 0.1 percentage point to 2.0%, indicating no obvious CPI increase, the

newspaper said, citing Zhang Jun, chief economist of Huaxin Securities. The

increase in vegetable prices will not last long as extreme weather conditions

will not continue in the coming months, and as the swine flu is expected not to

significantly affect the pork prices, Zhang said. Property rental prices will

not continue to rise nationwide as property policies are in place, the newspaper

said, citing Lian Ping, chief economist of the Finance Research Center of Bank

of Communications.

     The Chinese government is drafting property tax laws, 21st Century Business

Herald reported, citing a source indicating the tax could be implemented before

the year of 2023. Earlier this month, the Standing Committee of the National

People's Congress announced its legislation plan for its tenure up to 2023,

which listed property tax as a task to be finished "when conditions are mature".

The legislation process of the property tax law is expected to speed up as some

provinces already discussed and sought out opinions from related departments in

April, the newspaper said. The listing of the task in the Standing Committee

means that related problems and concerns on the basic structure and ideas of the

tax are cleared, and that the tax should come into force before 2023, the

newspaper said, citing Lou Jianbo, director of the Property Law Research Center

at Peking University.

--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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