-Beijing terms the US move as extremely discriminatory
DM Monitoring
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration added China’s top chipmaker, SMIC, and oil giant CNOOC to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, drawing condemnation from Beijing as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office.
The Department of Defense designated a total of four additional companies as owned or controlled by the Chinese military, including China Construction Technology Co Ltd and China International Engineering Consulting Corp.
In Beijing, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said China opposed U.S. efforts to suppress its companies, adding that Washington’s moves run counter to principles of market competition.
“The U.S. should stop abusing national power and national security concepts to suppress foreign companies,” Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing on Friday.
Meanwhile, China’s securities regulator said on Friday that U.S. legislation targeting U.S.-listed Chinese companies is “clearly discriminatory”.
The U.S. Congress has passed legislation that would force Chinese firms to delist from U.S. exchanges unless they abide by U.S. accounting rules.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in a statement that China remains open to addressing the U.S. concerns via dialogue and cooperation. Beijing on Friday also rejected the U.S. tightened travel rules for members of the Communist Party of China (CPC), saying its attempt to split the CPC with Chinese people will only result in pushing all the Chinese to its opposite side.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters in response to the comments made by the U.S. State Department’s spokesperson, who explained the new rules aim to deter influence from the CPC.
The U.S. on Wednesday announced a new visa policy that limited the maximum validity of travel visas for party members and their families to one month and a single entry.
Calling the remarks “ridiculous”, Hua stressed that CPC’s leadership is the fundamental feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
It is the common belief among Chinese people that without the Communist Party, there would be no new China, added Hua, suggesting the U.S. official lacks basic knowledge and professional attitude of equality and mutual respect when dealing bilateral ties with China.
Hua also expressed pity for the current “white terror” against the CPC in the U.S. by some extremist anti-China forces in the United States out of strong ideological bias and deep-seated Cold-War mentality, reiterating their attack targeted on the CPC is pushing themselves away from the Chinese people and is decoupling the U.S. from the world and the future.
China firmly opposes such practice, Hua said, stating the move will only damage the national interests of the U.S. as well as the benefits of the two peoples.
