BEIJING, June 19 (Reuters) – China will gradually make the
yuan’s exchange rate more flexible, the central bank said on
Saturday a week before a G20 summit, strongly suggesting that
it was ready to break the currency’s 23-month-old dollar peg.

However, it all but ruled out a one-off revaluation or
major appreciation, saying there was “no basis for big
fluctuations or changes” in the exchange rate.

BEIJING (Reuters) – A Hong Kong book publisher has been forced to halt the much-awaited publication of former Chinese premier Li Peng’s memoirs of controversial events leading up to the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

About 20,000 Chinese-language copies of “The Tiananmen Diary of Li Peng” had initially been scheduled to go on sale in Hong Kong on June 22, but Bao Pu, of New Century Press, stopped the presses on Friday because he did not have copyright ownership.

BEIJING, June 19 (Reuters) – A Hong Kong book publisher has been forced to halt the much-awaited publication of former Chinese premier Li Peng’s memoirs of controversial events leading up to the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

About 20,000 Chinese-language copies of "The Tiananmen Diary of Li Peng" had initially been scheduled to go on sale in Hong Kong on June 22, but Bao Pu, of New Century Press, stopped the presses on Friday because he did not have copyright ownership.

Reuters obtained an advance copy of the memoirs in which Li reveals that China’s revered reformist leader, Deng Xiaoping, said the government had to "spill some blood" to quell the June 4, 1989, protests. [ID:nTOE653025]

A source with ties to the leadership in Beijing who requested anonymity said Li had never consented to Bao publishing his memoirs, written in 2004 but suppressed by current Chinese leaders who seek to erase from public memory images of troops and tanks crushing the student-led movement.

"Relevant institutions provided information related to copyright (ownership) before publication. According to Hong Kong copyright laws, we have no choice but to scrap our original publication plans," Bao told Reuters by telephone from the former British colony on Saturday.

Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, but retains a high degree of autonomy under the handover agreement.

Bao declined to say who approached him with proof of copyright ownership. He would not comment when asked how much losses he estimated he would incur and what he planned to do with books already printed.

By moving to stop publication, the authorities appear to be giving credence to the authenticity of the memoirs. But Chinese officials have made no public comments to either confirm or deny the memoirs’ authenticity.

"I’m surprised by the level of mobilisation," Bao said, referring to Chinese intervention to stop publication.

Troops mobilised under a martial law proclamation shot and killed hundreds of protesters and bystanders around Tiananmen Square in Beijing, according to witnesses and rights groups.

Bao defended his earlier decision to publish the memoirs without Li’s consent.

"We have reason to believe that Li Peng himself wrote this book and is willing to have it published, but his publication rights were deprived by a third party — the Communist Party’s Politburo," Bao said, referring to the Party’s 25-member decision-making body.

Hong Kong "laws do not regulate whether publication under such conditions is permitted", Bao said.

"The memoirs have historical value and significance and the public have a willingness to know. Hence, it’s very natural for us to decide to publish them. It was a prudent decision."

Last year, Bao dropped a political bombshell when he released secret memoirs of the 1989 events by Zhao Ziyang, who was purged as Communist Party general secretary with Premier Li’s help for being too soft on the protesters.

Zhao spent more than 15 years under house arrest until his death in 2005 and had to secretly record his memoirs on cassette tapes which were smuggled out of the country, transcribed and published in Hong Kong.

Bao is the son of Bao Tong, Zhao’s top aide in 1989 and the most senior Chinese official jailed for sympathising with protesters. Bao Tong was imprisoned for seven years and remains under tight police surveillance in Beijing.

A Chinese editor with ties to senior officials told Reuters that highly restricted "internal" copies of Li’s memoirs were circulated among a small circle of officials earlier this year. (Additional reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie)

BEIJING (Reuters) – Finger-pointing at the G20 will be self-defeating for an international forum that should be focused on coordination, not criticism, of economic policies, a senior Chinese government official said.

The official, speaking ahead of a Group of 20 summit in Canada on June 26-27, also said that while Beijing is determined to promote more domestic consumption, it is unrealistic to expect drastic changes in the short run.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Xiang Junbo is a war hero and award-winning scriptwriter. He’s also chairman of China’s third-largest bank, founded by Mao Zedong, and had hoped to be launching the world’s biggest-ever initial public offering.

But a slump in China’s markets means Agricultural Bank of China’s ABC.UL IPO may now raise nearer $20 billion than the hoped-for $30 billion, and Xiang will need all his long banking experience and business acumen to pull off the state-run group’s much-needed fund raising.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Xiang Junbo is a war hero and award-winning scriptwriter. He’s also chairman of China’s third-largest bank, founded by Mao Zedong, and had hoped to be launching the world’s biggest-ever initial public offering.

But a slump in China’s markets means Agricultural Bank of China’s IPO may now raise nearer $20 billion than the hoped-for $30 billion, and Xiang will need all his long banking experience and business acumen to pull off the state-run group’s much-needed fund raising.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s revered reformist leader Deng Xiaoping said the government had to “spill some blood” to quell student-led protests in 1989, according to newly published memoirs of the watershed events by former premier Li Peng.

Deng’s commanding role in the armed crackdown that remains taboo in Chinese politics 21 years later is described in new memoirs by Li, the hardline head of China’s government, which faced the student-led movement that erupted across China in 1989.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will be doing well if it can keep inflation below 5 percent this year, influential former lawmaker Cheng Siwei said, one of the starkest warnings yet about price pressures facing the economy.

While it is “imperative” to increase interest rates, he said this might not be feasible, marking a rare admission about how Beijing feels that its hands are tied on monetary policy.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Li Xiaopeng, whose father former Chinese premier Li Peng is reviled by many as the “Butcher of Beijing” for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, will be promoted to a ministerial position, two sources said.

His move will cement the family’s position as one of the ruling Communist Party’s most powerful dynasties, and is another sign that jockeying has begun ahead of the 2012 Party Congress, where President Hu Jintao’s successor will be named.