Cross one name off the list. No sooner has Chinaâs Citic put itself in the running for a stake in Bear Stearns, than another Chinese name has ruled itself out - and indicated that its compatriot may not have an easy ride on its US ambitions. China Construction Bank said it had been frustrated by the US in its attempts to expand there and is not interested in buying a stake in Bear, reports Reuters. Chairman Guo Shuqing, who has previously expressed a desire to up overseas revenues from about 2 per cent to as much as 10 per cent of the total, called the US attitude towards Chinese banks âabnormal and unfair.â Harsh words, stemming perhaps from the fact that CCB has so far failed to win approval to open a US branch. âIn the past we may have had our problems, for instance low capital adequacy and bad performance, but now the situation has completely changed,â Reuters reported him as saying. âYet the US side has still not changed its attitude.â Chinese banks were until recently riddled with bad loans and endemic corruption, but aggressive reform of the sector by Beijing has included allowing overseas institutions to acquire minority stakes in leading banks. Among those to take advantage of that was Bank of America, who took a stake in CCB. Merrill Lynch and Goldman also piled in. Now the Chinese want a little pay-back. An FT story quotes one Beijing investment banker as saying: âUS banks have made money from stakes in Chinese banks. Can the US really now turn round and say to the likes of Citic that it canât acquire a stake in a US bank?â But on Wednesday, Mr Guo said that as a commercial bank, CCB had no plans to go after a stake in Bear. One less thing for those of a protectionist bent stateside to worry about then. http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSSP10407020071017?pageNumber=2 I think it´s also "abnormal and unfair" to generate "abnormal und unfair" trade surpluses and China not caring a sh.t about it !