China urges US to halt proposed expansion of outbound investment curbs

The Chinese commerce ministry has called on the United States to halt its plans to expand restrictions on American investments in China, arguing that a proposed rule on sensitive technologies would strain trade relations. On Thursday, the US Treasury Department released proposals to update its outbound-investment security program, adding biotechnology to the list of restricted sectors, while also broadening coverage of high-performance computing and hypersonic systems.

Beijing's commerce ministry denounced the proposal as "discriminatorily" widening China-related investment restrictions and intensifying curbs. It firmly rejected the US proposal and reserved the right to implement unspecified countermeasures. Beijing also warned that the proposal would harm bilateral economic ties and go against the consensus reached by the presidents of both countries, who have met twice in the past six months.

The US Treasury maintains that the measures, which apply to other nations as well, aim to prevent US capital from financing foreign adversaries' development of dual-use strategic technologies that could endanger US national security. The program had already limited certain US investments in China related to semiconductors, quantum technologies, and artificial intelligence.