China firmly opposes U.S. restrictions on investments in China: FM spokesperson

BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- China strongly deplores and firmly opposes the single-minded rollout of restrictions on investments in China by the United States and has made serious démarche to the U.S. side, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

According to reports, on the early morning of Aug. 10, Beijing Time, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the executive order on setting up screening mechanisms on outbound investments and restricting U.S. entities' investments in the semiconductor and microelectronic, quantum information technology, and artificial intelligence sectors in China.

When asked for comments, the spokesperson said that restricting U.S. companies' investments in China, with national security concerns as a front, is a clear act of overstretching the concept of security and politicizing business engagement.

The spokesperson pointed out that the move's real aim is to deprive China of its right to develop and selfishly pursue U.S. supremacy at the expense of others.

"This is blatant economic coercion and tech bullying, an act that seriously violates the principles of market economy and fair competition, undermines the international economic and trading order, destabilizes global industrial and supply chains and hurts the interests of both China and the United States and the global business community," said the spokesperson. "This is de-globalization and a move to phase China out."

President Biden has made commitment to not seeking to "decouple" from China or halt China's economic development, the spokesperson said, urging the U.S. side to follow through on that commitment, stop politicizing, instrumentalizing and weaponizing tech and trade issues, immediately cancel the wrong decisions, remove the restrictions on investments in China and create an enabling environment for China-U.S. business cooperation.

"China will follow the developments closely and resolutely safeguard our rights and interests," said the spokesperson.