In Beijing, it has not gone down well that Washington continues to tighten the screws on key sectors of the Chinese locomotive to weaken its technological progress. President Joe Biden unveiled a long-awaited executive order to limit US investments in technology industries outpost of the Asian giant. New restrictions that for the Chinese Foreign Ministry is “a flagrant act of economic coercion and technological harassment.”
Under the new order, which takes effect next year, US private equity and venture capital companies, as well as joint ventures with Chinese conglomerates, will not be allowed to invest in Chinese artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors, the latter sectors already battered. earlier after the Biden administration blocked Beijing’s access to the most advanced chips and the equipment to make them.
The purpose of the newly announced measures, which claim to protect national security, is to try to prevent cutting-edge American technology from ending up in the hands of the Chinese military. “The real purpose is to deprive China of its right to development,” they denounced this Thursday from Beijing, assuring that they are going to present “a severe protest” to the US and that they reserve the right to take countermeasures.
Over the chipsWashington, which has already halted subsidies to US high-tech companies producing advanced semiconductors in China, has been rolling out export controls aimed at hampering the Asian power’s ability to use US technology for military applications, as well as prevent companies in your country export technology to Chinese groups that are dedicated to producing high-end chips in almost all modern devices.
The new investment screening mechanism, which requires the Treasury Department to be notified of any outward capital flows in marked areas, will be the first to curb US financial investment in high-tech industries in China.