MNI China Press Digest May 27: Yuan, Cmdty Curbs, China-EU

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Thursday:

• China has been resolute in the market-based reform of the yuan and the People's Bank of China has largely ceased regular interventions, so the future rise and fall of the yuan should be determined by the market, said the Securities Times in a front-page commentary. Blindly pursuing currency stability isn't in the long-term development interest of an open economy, as China has vowed to increase monetary policy independence, promote capital free flow and an internationalized yuan, the newspaper said. The yuan surged past 6.4 against the U.S. dollar this week, the first time since June 2018, with some analysts predicting as high as 6.2 in offshore trading.
• China should continue to ensure commodity supply, curb excessive speculation, and show "zero tolerance" toward hoarding and manipulating the futures market as it seeks to cool the surging commodity prices, the official English-language newspaper China Daily said in a commentary. The rapid gain in prices of China's key upstream raw materials this year largely resulted from speculation, in addition to the faster-recovering demand outpacing supply, the newspaper said. A market supervision and law enforcement team should be set up to strengthen the controls over the functioning of the futures and spot markets, the daily said.
• China and Europe shouldn't let false information block the truth nor let "political virus" damage unity, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at the Munich Security Conference on Wednesday, the Xinhua News Agency reported. China will stick to its chosen political system and development as a reliable partner to the world's nations, and it is not an adversary in systems, Wang said according to Xinhua. Wang responded to questions including those on the now-suspended investment treaty with the EU and Xinjiang issues, Xinhua said.