China Counters US Sanctions With New Rules

By E-businessLife Last updated Jan 12, 2021

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka last June. The two leaders spoke by phone earlier this month. Since the coronavirus outbreak, China has let in some experts from the World Health Organization but has not yet allowed in a team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

China passed new rules over the weekend to push back at President Trump’s sanctions after he signed an executive order to delist three Chinese communications companies from the New York Stock Exchange, according to a report on Monday.

New York Post notes that Trump’s executive order from November bars American investments in companies that have suspected ties to the Chinese military, intelligence and security services.

The NYSE said it will delist the three companies — China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom Hong Kong — at 4 p.m. Monday.

China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Saturday that the regulations will counteract the “unjustified extra-territorial application” of foreign laws, BBC News reported.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley began moving Sunday evening to delist 500 products linked to the telecom companies, Reuters reported, citing filings to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.

The investment banks referred to information released by the US Office of Foreign Assets and Control that the trio of companies were included in Trump’s executive order.

A notice posted Saturday by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said an individual or organization restricted by foreign legislation from “engaging in normal economic, trade and related activity with a third State or its citizens” may report it to the commerce department within 30 days.

If it finds the citizen or company “suffers significant losses” from not complying with the US order, the Chinese government may “provide necessary support” and may take “necessary counter-measures.”

Trump last week signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese apps including Alipay and WeChat Pay.

The president said the apps pose a threat to Americans because they can access large swaths of data that can be turned over to the Chinese government.