A U.S. bill targeting Chinese companies listed in the United States is clearly discriminatory, China's top securities regulator said Friday, expressing firm opposition to the U.S. politicization of securities regulation.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) made the remarks while responding to the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives recently, which demands additional information disclosures from foreign public companies in the U.S. market, including requiring foreign issuers of securities to establish that they are not owned or controlled by a foreign government.
The act also asks foreign issuers to disclose the names of officials on the board of directors who are Communist Party of China (CPC) members and whether the CPC Constitution is written into the company's articles of incorporation.
Such content is "clearly discriminatory and not based on the professional considerations of securities regulation," the CSRC said in a statement on its website.
"Forcing Chinese firms to be delisted from the U.S. securities market with these rules will severely damage the interests of U.S. investors and even international investors," it said.
The fact that U.S. regulators are temporarily unable to carry out inspections of Chinese accounting firms providing audit services to Chinese companies listed in the United States is an issue regarding cross-border oversight cooperation, which should be addressed through enhanced bilateral regulatory cooperation, according to the CSRC.
China has always maintained an open attitude toward addressing the concerns of the U.S. side through dialogue and cooperation, it said.
The commission said it looks forward to consultations between regulators of both sides on specific proposals, resolving differences through dialogue based on the principle of mutual respect, promoting Sino-U.S. audit oversight cooperation and jointly creating a favorable regulatory environment for cross-border listed enterprises.
