BEIJING - A press release by the Chinese securities regulator on Monday reemphasized that Chinese and US officials are working to increase cooperation on cross-border audit oversight in the wake of a string of accounting scandals of US-listed Chinese companies.

Analysts, however, said in order to reach a substantial agreement the two sides must overcome several challenges.

The two sides met at the Sino-US symposium on audit oversight in Beijing on July 11 to 12, with attendance of officials of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the Chinese Ministry of Finance, the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Although the symposium purported to be "an important step toward Sino-US cooperation on audit oversight of public companies," it actually produced no official agreement.

The PCAOB has been seeking cooperation with the CSRC in audit oversight since 2007, but no real progress has been made and concerns over Chinese sovereignty was a major reason, according to analysts.

Aside from sovereignty concerns, supervisory and judicial differences are major barriers, analysts said.