Some of China’s largest insurers are sounding an alarm over the debt risks of China Vanke Co., according to people familiar with the matter, as shares and bonds of the major developer hit record lows on repayment concerns, Bloomberg News reported. At least two Beijing-based insurers that farm out annuity investments told their external portfolio managers late last week to closely monitor Vanke’s credit risks, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. One life insurer also told its pension managers to curb exposure, the people added.

Chinese developer Country Garden said on Monday it will consider if it is necessary to apply to the High Court for a validation order at a later stage after evaluating the progress of its offshore restructuring. If the validation order is not applied for or granted, any transfer of shares made after Feb. 27 will be void if the company is liquidated, it said. A liquidation petition was filed against Country Garden on Feb. 27 after it failed to meet repayment obligations. Read more.

Chinese solar giant Longi Green Energy Technology Co. is calling on Beijing to crack down on low prices and ensure panel quality as excess capacity and fierce competition spur company failures, Bloomberg News reported. The government should introduce new bidding rules to discourage prices that are below production costs, and to award firms that can provide long-lasting reliable products, Longi Chairman Zhong Baoshen said in an interview with Shanghai Securities News. Zhong made the comments on the sidelines of this week’s National People’s Congress, which he’s attending as a delegate.

Deutsche Bank is preparing a liquidation lawsuit in Hong Kong against Chinese developer Shimao Group, two sources said, in a rare move by a foreign firm that comes amid rising credit defaults and China's deepening property sector crisis, Reuters reported. Shanghai-based Shimao is among the many Chinese developers that have defaulted on offshore bonds, after it missed the interest and principal payment for a $1 billion offshore bond in July, 2022.

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng pledged on Friday to provide more opportunities for foreign companies in China as the government tries to restore confidence in the world's second largest economy, the Associated Press reported. Han told an audience of American business people in Beijing that the government would continue to open up more industries to foreign investment and create a market-oriented and law-based international business environment. “China’s development achievements have been made through opening up," he said at an American Chamber of Commerce in China banquet.

Chinese regulators have hit another firm with disciplinary action as they keep cracking down on high-frequency trading as part of efforts to stabilize equities markets, the Wall Street Journal reported. The China Financial Futures Exchange said late Wednesday that Shanghai Weiwan Fund Management recently used high-frequency trading in stock futures to circumvent the trading-limit system trade, making 8.9 million yuan ($1.2 million) in profits. The profits have been confiscated and Shanghai Weiwan is barred from trading for one year, the exchange said.

Chinese developer Country Garden said on Wednesday a liquidation petition has been filed against it for non-payment of a $205 million loan, clouding its debt revamp prospects and undermining Beijing's effort to restore confidence in the property sector, Reuters reported. Country Garden said in a regulatory filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it would "resolutely" oppose the petition, which was filed by a creditor, Ever Credit Limited, a unit of Hong Kong-listed Kingboard Holdings. A court hearing had been set for May 17.

China's securities regulator said on Friday it would mete out increasingly tough penalties on fraudulent listings, accounting scams and misappropriation of funds by big shareholders, as part of a crackdown to boost confidence in the stock market, Reuters reported. In its first news conference since the appointment of a new chairman, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) also said it would target insider trading and market manipulation more precisely, removing regulatory blind spots.

The U.S. and China are discussing new measures to prevent a wave of emerging market sovereign defaults, one of the most significant attempts in years at economic cooperation between the rival superpowers, Bloomberg News reported. The talks — including ways to preemptively extend loan periods before countries miss payments — are broadly aimed at both easing the $400 billion-plus annual debt service burden for poor countries and finding an alternative to the high borrowing rates those nations now face in the market.

The number of foreclosed properties for sale in China rose at a faster pace in January, in a sign of the country’s continued economic slowdown, Bloomberg News reported. New listings of foreclosed properties nationwide rose 48% in January from a year earlier, compared with 37% in 2023, according to a report by real estate agency China Index Holdings published Thursday. The 100,400 properties listed for sale last month include residential, commercial and industrial real estate. Transactions in January also rose about 18% on-year.