China lodges 'solemn representations' with US over investment restrictions: Foreign ministry

China’s foreign ministry on Thursday said that Beijing has lodged “solemn representations” with the United States over its new measures to restrict investment in Chinese technology.

“China is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposes the United States’ insistence on introducing restrictions on investment in China, and has lodged solemn representations with the United States,” AFP quoted an unnamed foreign ministry spokesman as saying in a statement published online.

Expressing “serious concern”, Beijing said the move severely disrupts the security of global industrial and supply chains and it “reserves the right to take measures”.

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“President Joe Biden’s executive order seriously deviates from the market economy and fair competition principles the US has always promoted, and affects companies’ normal operation decisions, damages the international trade order, and severely disrupts the security of global industrial and supply chains,” added the spokesperson.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday moved to restrict US investment in Chinese technology during a multi-state tour of the Southwest to tout his push to revive American manufacturing after decades of decline.

The executive order directs the Treasury Department to restrict certain US investments in China in sensitive high-tech sectors including semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence (AI).

The restrictions, which are expected to take effect next year, come as Biden’s administration looks to bolster its position vis-a-vis China on a multitude of fronts: military, economic and technological.

They also come as the 80-year-old Democrat revs up his pitch for reelection in 2024, turning his attention to jobs and the economy, key bread-and-butter issues in the campaign for the White House.

As the executive order was made public, Biden was speaking in New Mexico about his government’s success in boosting manufacturing jobs in the renewable energy sector – an appeal to voters to embrace his brand of “Bidenomics.”

“Our plan is working,” he said in the city of Belen to mark the groundbreaking of a factory manufacturing wind turbine towers for the Arcosa group – and the creation of 250 new jobs.

With inputs from agencies