US may expand ban on investing in Chinese companies tied to military: report

蘋果日報 2021/01/09 06:49


The Trump administration may soon expand its ban against Americans investing in military-affiliated Chinese companies, adding new Chinese firms to Washington’s initial blacklist, according to U.S. news reports.
The proposed change would direct U.S. investors to completely divest their positions in the blacklisted companies by Nov. 11 this year, Reuters reported, citing two unnamed people familiar with the matter.
The expanded blacklist may include the Chinese giants Alibaba and Tencent, they said.
The current executive order, signed by U.S. President Donald Trump in November, bans U.S. individuals or companies from investing in 31 mainland companies owned or controlled by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
In response to the directive, JP Morgan on Thursday announced an early termination and suspension of trading on 10 call warrants in Hong Kong for some of the blacklisted mainland companies, including China Railway Construction and CRRC Corporation, as well as a fund that invests in mainland companies.
The New York-based index compiler MSCI Inc. said it would drop China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom from several of its global equity benchmark indices on Friday. The three companies, China’s largest telecommunications operators, are on the US blacklist.
The New York Stock Exchange has announced it will act next week to delist US-traded American depository receipts of the three telecoms companies.
Vincent Lam, a Hong Kong investor and director of VL Asset Management, said his company has avoided investing in the three mainland firms for years because their management has only limited control over setting dividend levels.
Lam said he expects their delisting from the New York stock market will have little impact on US investors, as their trading volumes are low in that country.
Market observer Patrick Poon, the vice president of the Hong Kong Institute of Financial Analysts and Professional Commentators, said the impact of recent US sanctions on Chinese companies would be temporary.
Poon believes the new Joe Biden administration may reverse some of the restrictions, including the trading ban on the three mainland telecoms, he said.
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