China and U.S. are committed to reach audit deal, Chinese regulator says

By Xie Yu

HONG KONG, May 25 (Reuters) - China and the United States are committed to reach an arrangement on the audit inspection issue that is in line with legal and regulatory requirements for both sides, China's securities regulator said on Wednesday.

The statement from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) came in response to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official saying "significant issues remain" in reaching a deal over U.S.-listed Chinese company audits.

The SEC's international affairs chief, YJ Fischer, said the agency's accounting body would need to complete China audit inspections by Nov. 22 to meet a U.S. deadline that will require non-compliant Chinese firms to delist by early 2023.

"We've always maintained that the audit inspection issue should be solved by cooperation on the basis of equality. Our attitude has always been positive and constructive," the CSRC said in its statement on Wednesday. (Reporting by Xie Yu; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Andrew Heavens)