Though the U.S. Federal Reserve.........>

CHINA PRESS: Though the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate

a quarter-point to 1.5% last week, China's monetary policy will not blindly

follow the step, the official People's Daily said Saturday. The expectation for

an interest-rate hike by central banks in some countries, including Canada,

Britain and South Korea, has been priced in by the market, so the impact of the

American move is weakening, according to analysts. China will stick to its

independent and steady style of monetary policy adjustment, the newspaper said.

The manager of the open market operations office at the People's Bank of China

said the recent decision to raise interest rates slightly was based on market

demand. It was a normal reaction to the Fed hike, the manager added, and could

help control the leverage ratio of the macro-economy. Analysts said the capital

market and the real economy relied unreasonably on monetary policy makers. China

will continue to stick to risk controls and let the financial market better

serve the real economy, the newspaper said. (People's Daily)