U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order that will ban new U.S. investments in China in sensitive technologies such as computer chips and require government notification in other technology sectors.
The long-awaited order authorizes the U.S. Treasury to ban or restrict U.S. investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and certain artificial intelligence systems.
“The restrictions would apply to reduced subsets of the three zones, but gave no concrete details. The proposal is open to the public,” the Biden administration said.
The order aims to prevent American capital and expertise from helping China develop technologies that could contribute to its military modernization and undermine U.S. national security. The measure targets private equity, venture capital, joint ventures, and investments in new facilities.
Biden said in a letter to Congress that he was declaring a national emergency to address the threat of progress by countries like China in “sensitive technologies and products critical to military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber capabilities.”
The order affects the operation and decision-making of enterprises and undermines the international economic and trade order, according to a statement from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
