The Biden administration said Monday it is finalizing rules that will limit U.S. investments in artificial intelligence and other technology sectors in China that could threaten U.S. national security.
The rules, proposed by the US Treasury Department in June, were directed by an executive order signed by President Joe Biden in August 2023 and cover three main sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and certain artificial intelligence systems.
The new rules go into effect on January 2, and will be overseen by the Treasury Department’s newly created Office of Global Transactions.
“The narrow set of technologies is at the core of the next generation of military, cybersecurity, surveillance, and intelligence applications,” the Treasury Department said.
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Paul Rosen, a senior Treasury Department official, added that the rule covers technologies such as “advanced computer systems for cryptanalysis or next-generation fighter aircraft.”
He added, “U.S. investments, including intangible benefits such as administrative assistance and access to investment and talent networks that often accompany such capital flows, should not be used to help the countries concerned develop their military, intelligence, and cyber capabilities.”
This base is part of a broader campaign to prevent American knowledge from helping the Chinese develop advanced technology and control global markets.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said earlier this year that the rules were necessary to prevent China from developing military technologies.
The new rules contain a provision allowing U.S. investment in publicly traded securities, but officials said the United States already had powers under a previous executive order preventing the purchase and sale of securities of certain specified Chinese companies.
The House Select Committee on China criticized major US index providers for funneling billions of dollars from US investors into stocks of Chinese companies that the US believes are facilitating the development of China’s military.
—(Reporting by David Shepardson, Michael Martina and Trevor Hunnicutt – Prepared by Mohammed for the Arabic Bulletin) Editing by Lisa Shoemaker
