China fumes as US House moves bill to ban its firms from bourses
China said on Wednesday that the United States is adopting discriminating policies towards Chinese firms, in response to the US House of Representatives backing a bill that could block Chinese firms from US securities markets.
China firmly opposes politicising securities regulation, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular briefing.
The House of Representatives is expected to pass legislation this week that could prevent some Chinese companies from listing their shares on US exchanges unless they adhere to US auditing standards
Biden won’t kill Phase 1 trade deal immediately
Joe Biden will not immediately cancel the Phase 1 trade agreement that President Donald Trump struck with China nor take steps to remove tariffs on Chinese exports, he told the New York Times. In an interview with Times columnist Thomas Friedman that gave clues to how the new administration will proceed on foreign policy, Biden said his top priority was getting a generous stimulus package through Congress, even before he takes power. Trump was reportedly eyeing more steps to box Biden into hardline positions on Beijing, backed by the anti-China sentiment in Congress that has often unnerved financial markets in the past four years.
“I’m not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs. I’m not going to prejudice my options,” President-elect Biden told Friedman. Biden said he would pursue policies targeting China’s
“abusive practices,” such as “stealing intellectual property, dumping products, illegal subsidies to corporations” and forcing “tech transfers” to Chinese companies.
US backs Australia over fake Twitter image row
The US has called China’s use of a digitally manipulated image of an Australian soldier a “new low”, weighing in on the dispute between Canberra and Beijing over the tweet.
China has rebuffed Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s calls for an apology after its foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian posted the picture of an Australian soldier holding a bloodied knife to the throat of an Afghan child on Monday.
“The CCP [Chinese Communist Party]’s latest attack on Australia is another example of its unchecked use of disinformation and coercive diplomacy. Its hypocrisy is obvious to all,” the state department said on Wednesday.