CHINA

Beijing Files With SEC to Sell Bonds: Overcoming its longtime reluctance to tap into international capital markets, the nation took an initial step toward its first worldwide bond offering. The Beijing government filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sell $1 billion of 10-year bonds, to be underwritten by Merrill Lynch & Co. Previously, China has avoided capital markets and relied on international borrowing. Commercial and primary government loans accounted for 80% of the country’s $69.3 billion in external public debt as of Dec. 31, 1992, according to Bloomberg Business News.