Gains from higher foreign investment would outweigh US-China trade spat

China will probably stay true to its pledge to further open its financial industry to foreign companies, even as the Trump administration ratchets up the threat of a trade war.

The US government is said to be considering clamping down on Chinese investments and imposing levies on a range of imports to punish Beijing for alleged theft of intellectual property. Would China retaliate by going back on its vow -- made by a trusted aide of President Xi Jinping before a global audience at Davos -- to remove foreign ownership limits on banks and allow overseas firms to take majority stakes in local securities firms?
Any such fears would be unfounded, according to bankers, economists, lawyers and researchers who’ve studied China.

“China does these things not because of trying to please international audiences. It does it because it thinks it’d be in the better interest of China,” said James Stent, who’s spent more than a decade on the boards of two Chinese lenders. “I shouldn’t think that they would change their views a great deal because of a trade spat with America.”