Chinese netizens slam US for stock losses

Chinese netizens this weekend flooded the Chinese social media account of the US embassy in China with complaints about losses in the stock market after China stocks tumbled for nearly a week.



China's Twitter-like Weibo account of the embassy has received over 10,000 comments from disgruntled Chinese netizens as of press time Sunday, with most complaining that they would have a bad time during the coming Spring Festival due to the huge losses in the stock market.



Some netizens blamed the US for causing the slump of the global market, while others criticized the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) for not intervening.



The complaints started to flood the comments section of an embassy post on Thursday, in which the embassy posted a video to wish Chinese netizens a happy Spring Festival.



In response, the US embassy in China said Saturday night many comments were not related to their post.



"Vicious comments targeting any individual or group are not acceptable according to Terms of Use for Mission China Social Media Platforms," the embassy said in Chinese on its Weibo account.



Aside from the US embassy, angry Chinese netizens also complained on the Weibo account of the Japanese embassy in Beijing, British embassy in Beijing and the CSRC.



Chinese investors have the right to express their views when they suffer losses in the stock market, but they should know that investing in stocks is risky, Wang Sixin, a law professor at the Communication University of China, told the Global Times.



The volatility in the Chinese stock market was triggered by Wall Street, which is purely market-driven, Liu Dongliang, a senior analyst at China Merchants Bank, told the Global Times.



"The CSRC is responsible for maintaining normal operations, fairness and efficiency in the market, not in stock movements," Liu said.



"Pinning their hopes on the security regulatory department and expecting the government to reduce their losses is psychologically unhealthy and abnormal," Wang said.



The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index shed 1.82 percent to end at 3,309.26 points on Wednesday, adding to a 3.35 percent fall on February 6. The dismal performance of the mainland stock markets dashed hopes of a rebound, even after the three major US stock indices bounced back on February 6 after two days of spectacular losses.



The Shanghai index dived 4.05 percent to end at 3,129.85 points on Friday, finishing the week with loss of 9.6 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.38 percent to 24,190.9 points on Friday, ending the week with a 5.32 percent loss.

Newspaper headline: Netizens slam US for stock losses



