China issues more Sci-Tech innovation bonds in 2024: regulator

China issued 539 sci-tech innovation bonds in 2024, with the total value reaching a high of 610 billion yuan (84.9 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 64 percent, a senior official with China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Yan Bojin, chief risk officer and director general of the Department of Public Offering Supervision of the CSRC, said that the CSRC has taken a series of reform measures regarding the Star Market and ChiNext, two tech and innovation boards, in recent years to accelerate in-depth integration of innovation, industry and financing.

"The technological content of newly listed companies has kept increasing. Among the companies listed on the Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing stock exchanges, nearly 2,700 companies are in strategic emerging industries, accounting for more than 40 percent of the market capitalization. The scale and proportion of private equity and venture capital funds invested in strategic emerging industries are also steadily rising, with the number of projects funded reaching more than 100,000, and with the amount of initial capital invested exceeding four trillion yuan (556.77 billion U.S. dollars)," Yan said.

"Additionally, the role of direct financing through the bond market is becoming increasingly prominent, with 1.2 trillion yuan (166.6 billion U.S. dollars) worth of Sci-Tech innovation bonds issued. In particular, in 2024 alone, 539 Sci-Tech innovation bonds were issued, with a total value of 610 billion yuan (84.9 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 64 percent," he said.

Furthermore, Yan emphasized that the CSRC supports tech companies in utilizing both domestic and international resources. As of the end of April this year, 242 domestic companies had completed filings for overseas listings, 83 of which were technology companies, primarily in fields such as information technology, biomedicine, new energy and advanced manufacturing.

China issues more Sci-Tech innovation bonds in 2024: regulator

U.S. military forces continue to enforce "U.S. sanctions and fully implement the blockade against ships entering or departing Iranian ports", U.S. Central Command said on social media Saturday.

In a post on X, the U.S. Central Command said that 37 vessels have been redirected since the start of the blockade, noting a merchant vessel named Sevan, intercepted in the Arabian Sea earlier Saturday by the U.S. forces, is currently "complying with U.S. military direction to turn back to Iran under escort".

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on April 12 that the U.S. Navy would begin blocking ships trying to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz. His decision came after the first round of U.S.-Iranian talks on April 11 and 12 in Islamabad, Pakistan, failed to produce a peace deal.

In response to Trump's announcement, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned that "any threat against the security of the Strait of Hormuz will have large-scale consequences for global trade".

On Saturday, Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, reiterated its pledge to react if the United States continues its "blockade, banditry and piracy" in the West Asia region. Trump announced earlier Saturday that he has canceled the trip of U.S. representatives going to Islamabad this weekend for talks with the Iranian side.

US military says blockade against Iran to be continuously "fully implemented"