The Biden administration plans to issue an executive order restricting investment in sensitive technologies to China early next week, Reuters reported on Friday. The news, which came shortly before US commerce chief’s reported China visit, is a pressure tactic repeatedly used by the US and will fail like before, Chinese experts said.
As the US’ intensifying technology blockade against China becomes increasingly ineffective, this latest blundering move against economic norms will only trigger a stronger backlash from American investors and could hurt Biden’s re-election bid, experts said.
US President Joe Biden is set to issue an executive order on Tuesday to screen outbound investments in sensitive technologies to China, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The investment restrictions, which has had been postponed on several occasions and could again, are not expected to take effect right away even after it is issued, the Reuters said.
The news comes as Bloomberg recently reported that the US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is planning to visit China in late August.
The topic also came up last month during US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s meeting with Chinese officials, according to Reuters.
The recent series of visits by senior US officials to China is not simply equivalent to efforts to ease China-US tensions, as some In the Western media claim, Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Saturday.
The news which has been strategically leaked to pressure on China on the eve of meetings between Chinese and the US side is a well-worn US political tactic to try and win an advantage, but these petty moves are not able to force China to comply with its arbitrary demands, Gao said.
New investment restrictions will target US private equity, venture capital and joint venture investments in Chinese semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence, according to Reuters.
Issuing a clumsy administrative order which goes against economic laws is clearly a step further on the wrong track of “decoupling and breaking industrial chains” and politicizing and weaponizing economic and trade issues, experts said.
The US plan to restrict investment in the technology sector obviously creates great uncertainty and risks for US investors. If Biden chooses to harm the interests of US investors in such a clumsy way using executive orders, his re-election prospects will suffer, Gao said.
In response to questions related to the US’ plan to restrict investments in China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in July that China opposes the US politicizing and weaponizing of trade and tech issues. It is in no one’s interest to place arbitrary curbs on normal technology cooperation and trade, violate the principles of the market economy and destabilize global industrial and supply chains.
If the US government leaves no room in suppressing and blocking China’s technological development, the US will hurt both itself and others, and further damage international trade and the global economy, said Dong Shaopeng, a senior research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at the Renmin University of China.
US politicians are weaponizing economic and technological cooperation in an attempt to maintain absolute hegemony, which will inevitably degrade the normal business environment. Of course, they will stir up stronger backlash from the business community both in the US and abroad, Dong said.
(Global Times)
