The regulation, released by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, clarified the definition of major related-party transactions, which will be subject to stricter scrutiny.
The report shows that in 2017, China spent 6 billion on research and development, following closely behind US R&D expenditure of 9 billion.
The renminbi's fall is not currency manipulation but the exact opposite, said Ann Lee, a specialist in China's economic relations at New York University.
The report also showed that over 50 percent of the elderly inquired about reservations online by themselves, about 40 percent chose offline travel agencies or consultants, and only a small number needed help from their children. It was also found that more than 70 percent of them relied on recommendations by key opinion leaders on the internet.
The remarks came days after the phone conversation between State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland.
The report published Thursday by the accounting firm PwC, also known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, said 482 real estate merger and acquisition deals were recorded in China last year, up 6.4 percent year-on-year, and major real estate developers continued to grow rapidly in 2017 as industrial concentration intensified.
在线排名优化
The report also offered some insights into the reading habits of Chinese readers. Compared with their elders, young Chinese born in the 1990s and 2000s prefer e-books to print books, according to the report. Almost half (46 percent) of e-book readers are people born in the 1990s. People aged 18 to 34 account for more than 60 percent of users on Tmall's e-reading app. The peak time for reading books on cellphones is from 9 pm to 11 pm, the report said.
The report also noted that with further tightening of regulations, Chinese commercial banks are witnessing rising pressure from compliance risks this year.
The region is currently at the epicenter of the pandemic, and while some governments have begun to lift measures, others have had to keep them in place or even redouble them due to the persistent daily uptick in cases, ECLAC said.
The report said students in junior high school represent the largest group of juveniles surfing the internet - with internet popularity reaching as high as 99.4 percent - trailed slightly by students in vocational schools, at 99 percent.