UPDATE 1-China's CIC uneasy at investment being politicised
ju4 wa4i dia4n zo1ng he2 ba4o da4o :\n  (Adds more quotes, context)\nBy Eadie Chen\nBEIJING, June 13 (Reuters) - China Investment Corp is turning\nits back on countries that are suspicious of sovereign wealth\nfunds, Gao Xiqing, CIC's president and chief investment officer,\nsaid on Friday.\nGao told a mergers and acquisitions conference that CIC "has\na problem" that countries are defining more industries as\nstrategically important.\n"Some think we are from a Cold War area and Red China. We are\nstill regarded very much by many countries as a potential\nthreat," Gao, speaking in English, said.\n"We are trying to get financial returns. If there is too much\npolitical pressure and too much unpredictability, you just go\naway," he said.\n"Fortunately, there are more than 200 countries in the world.\nAnd fortunately, there are many countries who are happy with us,"\nhe added.\nGao said CIC had walked away from a potential investment in\nan unnamed country after its leaders flagged political concerns.\n"We then stopped reviewing that case," he said.\nCIC, which was set up last September to earn higher returns\non a portion of China's official reserves, would soon start\nmaking investments in global equities and bonds through fund\nmanagers that it is in the process of appointing, Gao said.\nIn that connection, a source told Reuters earlier this week\nthat CIC was in final talks to entrust each of eight overseas\nasset managers with $250-600 million worth of fixed income funds\nfocused on emerging markets.\nCIC expects to have $80-90 billion of its total assets of\n$200 billion available for overseas investment.\nBROAD INTERESTS\nGao said CIC had a broad investment horizon and had been\nlooking at various opportunities across the globe.\n"We've been studying all the laws and regulations in major\ncountries," he said.\n"Sure, we are looking at energy. We are looking at clean\nenergy and environmentally friendly investment. (We are) looking\nat everything cross-border except for casinos, tobacoo companies\nor machine gun companies," he added.\nCIC has ploughed $3.2 billion into a private equity fund set\nup by New York-based J.C. Flowers & Co that will target financial\ninstitutions.\nIt took a $3 billion equity stake in private equity house\nBlackstone Group <BX.N> before its initial public offering last\nyear and bought a $5 billion stake in Morgan Stanley <MS.N>.\nGao reiterated that CIC was exclusively commercially driven.\nIt was a passive financial investor that does not seek\nrepresentation on the boards of its potential targets.\nHe recognised that the fund needed to become more transparent\nbut said publicity was not a goal it was seeking. Lacking\nexperience and expertise, CIC would proceed humbly, he added.\nHe said CIC had come bottom of a list of sovereign wealth\nfunds in terms of transparency. This had worried some CIC\nofficials, who wondered whether CIC should talk to the media.\n"But I said that the only reason to put you there is because\nthey want you to talk to them. So don't talk to them," Gao said.\n"We are new and so young. Of course we are not transparent\nenough because we have no time to make ourselves transparent," he\nsaid.\n(Editing by Alan Wheatley)\n((alan.wheatley@thomsonreuters.com; 86 10 6627 1235;\nalan.wheatley@reuters.com@reuters.net))\nKeywords: CHINA ECONOMY/CIC