SHANGHAI: China stocks weakened on Thursday, as Sino-US tensions dampened sentiment, offsetting a series of upbeat corporate earnings for the first quarter.

The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.2% to 5,089.24, while the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.2% to 3,465.11.

A bipartisan US congressional push to counteract China picked up steam on Wednesday as a Senate committee overwhelmingly backed a bill pressing Beijing on human rights and economic competition and other lawmakers introduced a measure seeking billions for technology research.

Concerns over liquidity also put pressure on the market. The value of shares investors in China’s onshore stock markets have borrowed to sell short reached 151.9 billion yuan ($23.43 billion) on Wednesday, just a touch below a record high hit on Tuesday. The increase came after China allowed foreign investors to conduct margin trading and securities lending deals in the A-share market, who had long complained about a lack of hedging tools.