- China on Saturday accused the Trump administration of attempting to “suppress” foreign companies, as the New York Stock Exchange moved to delist three China-based firms.
- Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said Trump’s economic policies amount to an “attempt to suppress China and start a new Cold War.”
- “This kind of abuse of national security and state power to suppress Chinese firms does not comply with market rules and violates market logic,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement, according to Reuters.
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China on Saturday accused the Trump administration of attempting to suppress foreign companies, as the New York Stock Exchange moved to delist three China-based firms.
The delisting came after months of mounting pressure, including an accusation from President Donald Trump that China uses US markets to raise money for its military.
“This kind of abuse of national security and state power to suppress Chinese firms does not comply with market rules and violates market logic,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a Saturday statement, according to Reuters.
Separately, Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said on Saturday that Trump’s policies amount to an “attempt to suppress China and start a new Cold War.”
“China-US relations have come to a new crossroads, and a new window of hope is opening. We hope that the next US administration will return to a sensible approach, resume dialogue with China, restore normalcy to the bilateral relations and restart cooperation,” Wang said in an interview with state-sponsored Xinhua News Agency.
President-elect Joe Biden has said the US should work closely with its global allies as disputes with China crop up.
"And as we compete with China and hold China's government accountable for its abuses on trade, technology, human rights, and other fronts, our position will be much stronger when we build coalitions of like-minded partners and allies to make common cause with us in defense of our shared interests and values," he said last week in Delaware, according to his prepared remarks.
Officials in Beijing on Saturday said they would take "necessary measures" to support delisted Chinese companies, according to Reuters.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
In November, President Donald Trump issued an executive order accusing Chinese officials of "increasingly exploiting" US markets. The order read: "Those companies, though remaining ostensibly private and civilian, directly support the [Chinese] military, intelligence, and security apparatuses and aid in their development and modernization."
In December, US legislators passed the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, a measure that requires listed firms to show proof they're not owned or controlled by foreign governments.
"Communist China has been the bully on the playground of America's stock exchanges for years, and that stops today," said Sen. John Kennedy, the bill's author, in a statement.
As a result, China Unicom Hong Kong, China Mobile, and China Telecom will each be delisted early this month, said the NYSE in a statement posted after markets closed on Thursday.
Trading in the company's American Depositary shares will be suspended before markets open on January 7, according to the NYSE.
Each company is also listed in Hong Kong, according to Reuters.
As of October, there were 217 China-based companies listed on the three biggest US stock exchanges, according to US statistics. Their total market value was about $2.2 trillion.