BEIJING — China is happy to see that the country’s A shares will be added to MSCI indexes, Chinese securities authority said on Feb 26.

“We have always wanted to see MSCI include Chinese mainland-listed A shares in its global benchmarks ... we believe that any international stock index without Chinese A shares is incomplete,” said Fang Xinghai, deputy head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) at a news conference. Fang was responding to a question on whether Chinese mainland’s A-shares will be added to the MSCI this year.

Fang said the MSCI decision will be related to their business interests and Chinese authorities are willing to discuss the issue with the stock index compiler.

The MSCI decision will not affect the opening-up or reform of China’s capital market which goes at its own pace, he said.

Global index provider Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) announced in June 2016 that it was delaying the inclusion of Chinese A shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index for the third time following its 2016 market classification review.

As a result, A shares will remain on the review list for inclusion into the emerging markets index this year.