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China Says New Agency Purely Commercial
Real estate news By Forbes
10.16.07, 9:31 AM ET
The chairman of China's multibillion-dollar state investment company said Tuesday that the goals of the new entity are purely commercial, attempting to allay concern that it would be used to promote Chinese political goals. "The company will operate in a completely commercial way," said Lou Jiwei, chairman of the China Investment Corp., quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency. "Some media reports said that China has political considerations behind the company. I think that is an unnecessary worry."
Beijing launched the company last month with $200 billion in capital to effort to earn a better return on China's $1.3 trillion in foreign reserves. The government has released little information about planned investments. The agency "will invest in Hong Kong, Taiwan and all other markets worldwide," Lou said at a meeting held during this week's Communist Party congress in Beijing, according to Xinhua.
The report gave no indication whether the company anticipated possible problems investing in Taiwan, which split with the mainland in 1949 amid civil war. The island's leaders are wary of economic domination by its communist neighbor. A spokesman for Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which oversees relations with the mainland, said he had not seen the report and could not comment on it. But the spokesman, Liu Te-shun, said Taiwan generally bars investment by the Chinese government, though private mainland investors are allowed to buy real estate.
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