The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China welcomes the Chinese government’s agreement to establish an independent regulator for foreign providers of financial information, which include the major global news agencies operating in China.
Depending on the degree of independence the new regulator is granted, this could ease long-running concerns about the previous situation in which foreign firms were obliged to provide sales data and other commercially sensitive details to the Xinhua News Agency – a rival information provider.
The FCCC looks forward to receiving further information from the Chinese government on the establishment of the new system, including the identity and jurisdiction of the new regulator. We believe a truly independent regulator will be good for the development of Chinese markets and will strengthen China’s increasing integration with the global economy.
Looking forward, we would welcome further progress in ensuring equal access to China’s economic data and a level playing field in data releases.