CIC official rejects need for Western guidelines

A senior official with China Investment Corp (CIC), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, said he did not see the need for such funds to be subjected to a list of "best practices" proposed by the G7 countries as a prerequisite for investing in developed nations. Jesse Wang, who is executive vice president and chief risk officer at the US$200 billion fund, also dismissed claims that sovereign fund investments pose a threat to state security, the Wall Street Journal reported. It would be "very stupid for a country to use its sovereign wealth fund to realize certain strategies and goals abroad," Wang said, as such investments would attract too much scrutiny. Sovereign funds controlled by exporting and oil-producing countries currently hold US$3 trillion in assets around the world. Investment bank Merrill Lynch expects this figure to reach US$7.9 trillion by 2011.