A bill passed by the United States Senate that aims to force all foreign firms to comply with US audit standards has received short shrift in Beijing.
China’s securities regulator – the CSRC – hit back, saying the proposal will “weaken confidence” in US stocks, and accusing lawmakers in Washington of “politicis[ing] securities regulation” and creating a law “directly targeted at China”.
Two of those charges are true; the third may be, too. The bill is certainly conveniently timed from a US point of view. Donald Trump has been bashing China for months, his fears of losing re-election due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which started life in the mainland city of Wuhan, clear for all to see.
But in recent weeks, he has banged the rhetoric up a notch. In mid May, he ordered the main government pension fund, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, not to invest any of its $600 billion portfolio in Chinese securities.
