Biden orders ban of U.S. investments in certain China technologies
Global News
The Biden administration said it engaged with U.S. allies and partners as it developed the restrictions "and will continue coordinating closely with them to advance these goals."
President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that will narrowly prohibit certain U.S. investments in sensitive technology in China and require government notification of funding in other tech sectors.
The long-awaited order authorizes the U.S. Treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict certain U.S. investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and certain artificial intelligence systems.
Biden said in a letter to Congress he was declaring a national emergency to deal with the threat of advancement by countries like China “in sensitive technologies and products critical to the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities.”
The proposal targets investments in Chinese companies developing software to design chips and tools to manufacture them. The U.S., Japan and the Netherlands dominate those fields, and the Chinese government has been working to build up homegrown alternatives.
The move could fuel tensions between the world’s two largest economies, although U.S. officials insisted the prohibitions were intended to address “the most acute” national security risks and not to separate the two countries’ highly interdependent economies.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer praised Biden’s order, saying “for too long, American money has helped fuel the Chinese military’s rise. Today the United States is taking a strategic first step to ensure American investment does not go to fund Chinese military advancement.” He says Congress must enshrine restrictions in law and refine them.
Republicans said the Biden order did not go far enough.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul praised the move to restrict new outbound investments in China but said “the failure to include existing technology investments as well as sectors like biotechnology and energy is concerning.”