CHINA’S top securities regulator and relevant regulatory authorities have always been open to and fully respect Chinese companies’ independent choices of overseas listing venues in compliance with relevant laws and regulations, a spokesperson with the securities regulator said Sunday. The remarks came after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its rules for implementing the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act and certain Chinese company announced that it started to delist from the United States. “We have taken notice of this recent development and the market’s concerns over the audit oversight issues and the prospect of domestic companies listing in the United States,” said the spokesperson with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). The spokesperson refuted some overseas media reports that Chinese regulators will ban overseas listing of firms with variable interest entity structure and demand Chinese firms to delist from U.S. stock exchanges as “complete misunderstanding and misinterpretation.” “As far as we know, some domestic companies are actively communicating with domestic and foreign regulators to seek listing in the U.S. markets,” the spokesperson said. In terms of audit oversight cooperation, the CSRC has recently conducted candid and constructive communications with the SEC and the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to address issues in bilateral cooperation and has made positive progress on several important issues. “We believe that as long as regulators on both sides continue to conduct dialogues and negotiations in the spirit of mutual respect and trust, and deal with regulatory issues in a rational, pragmatic and professional way, we will certainly be able to find a mutually acceptable path of cooperation,” said the spokesperson. The spokesperson noted that both sides have been cooperating on audit oversight of U.S.-listed Chinese companies, and worked together on pilot inspection programs in order to find a more efficient way of cooperation, which has laid a good foundation for future cooperation. In recent years, certain political fractions in the United States have turned capital market regulation into part of their politicizing tools. (Xinhua) | 