Senior Biden administration officials announced that a new executive order will be issued Thursday banning U.S. entities from buying or selling securities from 59 Chinese defense and surveillance technology companies.
The Treasury Department will continuously implement and update the list of the new measure, which replaces that of the Department of Defense, while officials announced that the decision takes effect on August 2nd.
The new order, which appears to be an attempt to make a Trump administration ban sound legitimate, underscores the Biden administration’s goal of ensuring that “People in the US are not financing the military-industrial complex of the People’s Republic of China.” said one of the senior officials in front of reporters.
The inclusion of Chinese surveillance technology firms extended the previous order, officials said.
“We expect to have additional companies in the coming months in the new executive order for the ban.” they said.
President Joe Biden was examining a number of aspects of US policy toward China. His administration had delayed the implementation of the previous order while formulating the new framework of their policies.
The move is part of a wider series of steps to oppose China, including strengthening US alliances and pursuing large domestic investments to boost US economic competitiveness amid increasingly strained relations between the world’s two most powerful countries. .
The Treasury Department is expected to publish on Thursday, along with the list, data on what is involved in surveillance technology and data on whether companies are helping “Suppression or serious abuses of human rights” inside or outside China, said one official.
“We want to make sure that any future detention is on the legal ground. “So our first lists really reflect that.” said the other administration official.
In May, a judge signed an order lifting the ban on Chinese mobile phone maker Xiaomi, which was among the Chinese tech profile companies the Trump administration targeted for its ties to China’s military.
The judge later suspended the measure imposed on another Chinese map-making technology company, Luokung Technology Corp.
The Department of Defense had also imposed restrictions on the international semiconductor manufacturing corporation in China, in order to increase its domestic chip sector.
