Economic Daily: US investment restrictions on China are blatant economic coercion against China | US | economy
On the early morning of August 10th Beijing time, US President Biden signed an executive order to establish an outward investment review mechanism, restricting US entities from investing in China's semiconductor and microelectronics, quantum information technology, and artificial intelligence fields. The United States, under the guise of national security, restricts American companies from investing in China, which is a blatant economic coercion and technological bullying. Its real purpose is to curb China's development rights and maintain its own hegemony and self-interest.
The US side stated that the executive order aims to "prevent US capital and expertise from helping develop technologies that may support China's military modernization and threaten US national security", and is a necessary measure to "protect national security". The US has repeatedly claimed that it has no intention of decoupling from China, obstructing China's economic development, or containment of China, but has frequently generalized the concept of "national security", imposed indiscriminate export controls on China, imposed technological blockades, and distorted normal trade and investment. This investment restriction is another attempt by the US to politicize, instrumentalize, and weaponize economic, trade, and technological issues, and it is also another ironclad evidence of the US's lack of credibility.
The artificial obstacles set by the United States for normal technological cooperation and economic and trade exchanges will disrupt the stability of the global industrial and supply chains, which is not in the interest of either party, especially for American enterprises.
Currently, the world is in a critical period of technological innovation and transformation. For enterprises from various countries, losing development opportunities in the Chinese market is highly likely to result in losing the initiative in the global innovation competition. American companies also have a clear understanding of this. According to foreign media reports, executives from American semiconductor companies such as Intel, Qualcomm, and Nvidia recently went to Washington to lobby against the Biden administration's expansion of restrictions on the sale of certain chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment in China. A recent report released by the South China American Chamber of Commerce shows that nearly 60% of American companies continue to have a positive outlook on the Chinese market, and about 30% of surveyed companies plan to expand their reinvestment, demonstrating the importance of the Chinese market for American companies. Nevertheless, the US government still disregards the interests of American businesses and blindly introduces investment restrictions, which shows how paranoid some American politicians have become in their anti China mentality.
The measures to contain China have become so undisguised, but US government officials are still "whitewashing", claiming that the US's direct restrictions on investment only target industries that "may threaten US national security" and will not interfere with legitimate commercial exchanges between the two countries. Such remarks can be said to be "lying with open eyes", which is extremely ridiculous and also shows how hypocritical the US side is.
US government officials also claimed that they have communicated with the Chinese side regarding this policy, which has been strongly opposed by the Chinese side. But the United States still goes its own way, which further shows the world that the responsibility for the current difficulties in China US relations lies not with China, but with the United States. The promise made by the US to "install barriers for Sino US relations" is nothing but empty talk and clich é s. The "market economy," "contractual spirit," and "openness and inclusiveness" that the United States has always touted are only tools that can be used if they are compatible and discarded if they are not compatible. A United States that goes to great lengths to maintain its own hegemony loses its national credibility and credibility, let alone world leadership.
