U.S. President Joe Biden is extending this week a Trump-era national emergency that prohibits U.S. companies or individuals from investing in companies linked to China’s military.
Biden later expanded on the order in June 2021 with Executive Order 14032, which prohibited U.S. investments in companies affiliated with China’s military or surveillance industries.
His latest order will extend the national emergency regarding investment in China’s military and surveillance companies by one year beyond its previously scheduled end date of Nov. 12.
“The PRC military-industrial complex ... continues to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
In his statement, Biden said the Chinese Communist Party’s national strategy of “military-civil fusion” was to blame, as it requires civilian companies in China to directly contribute to the regime’s military and intelligence activities.
Because of this, those companies must be treated as though they’re part of China’s military and intelligence apparatus, and their ability to interact with U.S. markets must be limited, he said.
“Those companies, though remaining ostensibly private and civilian, directly support the PRC’s military, intelligence, and security apparatuses,” Biden said.
“At the same time, those companies raise capital by selling securities to United States investors that trade on public exchanges both here and abroad, lobbying United States index providers and funds to include these securities in market offerings, and engaging in other acts to ensure access to United States capital.”
