Asia

China Slams 'Political' NYSE Delisting of Top Three Mainland Telecoms, Will Have 'Limited' Effects

The news comes after the Trump administration delisted China's top three telecoms - China Telecom Corp Ltd, China Mobile Ltd and China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd - over alleged ties to the Chinese military.
Sputnik

China's securities' body has slammed the Trump administration's delisting of three top Chinese telcoms on Sunday in a statement as being used for "political purposes".

According to the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the three telecoms had "always adhered to market rules and regulatory requirements" in US securities markets and were "widely recognised by global investors".

"The executive order, which is based on political purposes, have entirely ignored the actual situations of relevant companies and the legitimate rights of the global investors, and severely damaged market rule and order", the CSRC said in a statement.

But the size of the firms' presence in US markets was "small", the CSRC said, adding their American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) were only 2.2 percent of total equity shares.

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China Telecom and China Unicom's market capitalisation in the US remained at 800m RMB (123.7m USD) and 1.2bn RMB (185.6m USD), respectively, the CSRC said.

Due to the small presence in the NYSE, the direct impact of the delisting would be "rather limited" on the growth of the three telecoms and market performance, it added.

"We firmly support the three companies to safeguard their legitimate rights according to law, and believe they are able to properly handle any negative impact caused by the executive order and potential delisting", the statement read.

The CSRC added the US as an international finance centre was to "build on the trust of the global enterprises and investors".

"The recent move by some political forces in the U.S. to continuously and groundlessly suppress foreign companies listed on the U.S. markets, even at the cost of undermining its own position in the global capital markets, has demonstrated that U.S. rules and institutions can become arbitrary, reckless and unpredictable. It is certainly not a wise move", it added.

The statement concluded, urging the US to "show respect" for the global market and uphold the rule of law, among others.

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The news comes amid outgoing US President Donald Trump's trade war against China, which targeted numerous firms in recent months such as Huawei Technologies, ZTE, mainland chipmaker SMIC, TikTok owner ByteDance and WeChat owner Tencent, among dozens others, in a bid to limit Beijing's rise as the global leader in emerging technologies.

But Beijing inked the 15-member Regional Cooperative Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest in history valued at $26.2tn, and an 'in principle' deal with the European Union, the world's largest market, in recent months, expanding Beijing's presence in international markets.

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