Beijing: China will cooperate on SWF code of conduct

China’s foreign minister said Beijing is willing to work on an international code of conduct for sovereign wealth funds, the Wall Street Journal reported. "I believe that appropriately using sovereign wealth funds based on international rules is beneficial to the concerned parties," Yang Jiechi said. His remarks were less hostile than a statement last week by Jesse Wang, executive vice president of China Investment Corporation (CIC), who said that a code of conduct proposal promoted by the G-7 was "unfair." CIC is China’s US$200 billion sovereign wealth fund. CIC Chairman Lou Jiwei told the International Monetary Fund’s managing director in January that CIC didn’t want outsiders to tell it how it should be run. The effect of the foreign minister’s statement is unclear because the ministry has no direct role in the operations of CIC.