Let it be said: 2021 will still be synonymous with tensions between Washington and Beijing. The New York Stock Exchange could give us a new illustration of the friction on the line of the two superpowers, by delisting from its rating a trio of Chinese telecom giants. This delisting would aim to get into the nails of a decree of the current US President, Donald Trump, which will come into force on January 11. The three listed companies affected by this change are China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom Hong Kong.
“The ordinance prohibits, from 9:30 am on January 11, 2021, any transaction in securities listed on the stock exchange, or in securities derived from these securities or designed to provide investment exposure to these securities, of any military company Chinese Communist, by any national of the United States, ”explains the New York Stock Exchange in a press release, to justify its decision.
Signed on November 12, this decree prohibits trading and investing in any company previously considered a Chinese Communist military company by the US Department of Defense. It also prohibits trading in any new company 60 days after the United States affixed this label to it. In addition to the three Chinese operators, other Chinese technological giants – including of course Huawei but also Hikvision, Panda Electronics and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) – appear on the blacklist brushed by Washington.
Huawei and minimum wage also concerned
During the presentation of this decree, the current resident of the White House, Donald Trump, had attacked the Chinese technological sector head-on. For him, China “exploits American capital” to strengthen and modernize its army in order to enable it to threaten the United States and its allies, but also to develop “advanced conventional weapons and malicious cyber actions against the United States and their population ”.
“Thanks to the national strategy of military-civilian fusion, China is increasing the size of the country’s military-industrial complex by forcing Chinese civilian companies to support its military and intelligence activities,” the US president then said. And to explain that “these companies, although they remain ostensibly private and civilian, directly support the military, intelligence and security apparatuses of China and contribute to their development and their modernization”.
“At the same time, these companies are raising capital by selling securities to US investors who trade on public exchanges at home and abroad, lobbying index providers and US funds to include these securities in market offers, and by engaging in other acts to guarantee access to American capital, ”he regretted. It remains to be seen whether Donald Trump’s position will be followed by his successor in the White House, Democrat Joe Biden, who is to be sworn in on January 20.
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