China urges US to halt proposed expansion of outbound investment curbs

BEIJING, Oct 24 (Reuters) - The Chinese commerce ministry urged the United States on Saturday to stop expanding restrictions on American investments in China, saying a proposed rule on sensitive technologies would disrupt trade ties.

The US Treasury Department issued proposals on Thursday to update its outbound-investment security programme, adding biotechnology to restricted ⁠sectors and expanding coverage of high-performance computing and hypersonic systems.

Beijing's commerce ministry said in a statement that the proposal "discriminatorily" widened China-related investment restrictions and intensified curbs.

It firmly opposed the US proposal and reserved the right to take unspecified countermeasures, it added.

Beijing also said the proposal would damage bilateral ⁠economic ties and ran counter to the consensus reached by the countries' presidents, who have met twice in the past six months.

The US Treasury has said the ⁠measures, which do not only cover China, are intended to stop US capital from supporting foreign adversaries' development ⁠of dual-use strategic technologies that could threaten US national security.

The US programme had already ⁠restricted certain US investments involving China in semiconductors, quantum technologies and artificial intelligence.

Reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Andrew Heavens

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Eduardo Baptista

Thomson Reuters

Eduardo Baptista is Chief Technology Correspondent, Greater China, for Reuters, based in Beijing. He covers artificial intelligence, semiconductors and emerging technologies. He holds a BA in History from the University of Cambridge.