MNI China Press Digest May 24: Yuan, Crypto Ban, Lithuania

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Monday:

• The People's Bank of China is likely to refrain from setting exchange rate targets for the yuan while allowing it to gain against the U.S. dollar in the medium to long term, Yicai.com reported citing analysts. Over the weekend, PBOC Deputy Governor Liu Guoqiang said the yuan's two-way fluctuation has become the norm and its future trading will be decided by supply and demand as well as the international financial markets. The yuan's recent appreciation was mainly due to the weakening dollar index, while fundamentals like China's economic recovery and balance of payments have not significantly changed, the newspaper said citing Guan Tao, the chief economist of Bank of China International and a former forex official. The yuan has continued to strengthen since April and traded around 6.4-6.5 against the dollar. Last week, the central parity rate nearly reached the high of 6.4235 on June 19, 2018.
• Chinese regulatory authorities must step up supervision over cryptocurrency speculations and transactional risks, and all parties should work together to crack down on the market chaos and illegal and criminal behaviors, the Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary. Cryptocurrencies are essentially a virtual commodity without underlying value, while misleading marketing information can intentionally amplify the illusion of high rates of return to lure investors, Xinhua said, calling for consumers to shun its trading. The cryptocurrency market has experienced multiple slumps since mid-May, with the price of Bitcoin shrinking by more than 30% from the highest point at the beginning of May, the newspaper said.
• Lithuania, which over the weekend said it is quitting the "17+1", a central and eastern European cooperation framework with China, has become a tool of competition between the U.S. and China by aggressively provoking China on issues from Xinjiang to Taiwan, the Global Times said in an editorial, telling it to stay off China's core interests. Lithuania has been politically radical, often acting as a flag raiser for anti-Russia moves and has had poor relations with neighboring countries such as Belarus, said the newspaper owned by the People's Daily, When such a small country is aggressive, it will invite trouble and "reap what it has sown," given the region's complex geopolitics and "old hatreds," the newspaper warned.