Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said U.S. business leaders now view China as “uninvestable”.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo criticized China as ‘uninvestable’ (Source: Andy Wong | Pool | via Reuters)
China is ‘uninvestable’ Due to Political and Economic Constraints
“Increasingly I hear from American business that China is uninvestable because it’s too risky,” Raimondo remarked between Beijing and Shanghai meetings. Businesses look for alternative possibilities, countries, and places to go.
Raimondo landed in Beijing Sunday to defend U.S. restrictions on China’s access to sensitive technology including advanced semiconductors and manufacturing equipment and promote low-risk economic partnerships. Her visit comes months after a company study found a rise in American resistance to doing business with the communist dictatorship. Raimondo told the reporter that there are traditional concerns that he has become accustomed to dealing with. And then there’s a whole new set of concerns, making China feel too risky to invest.
Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping’s regime has stoked those fears with a series of high-profile legal maneuvers in recent years, from the “politically motivated” arrest of two Canadian businessmen following Ottawa’s cooperation in the U.S. prosecution of a Huawei executive to recent restrictions on Micron and Intel in apparent retaliation for U.S. semiconductor industry restrictions.
China Enacted a Law Every American Businessman Will be Alleged as a Spy
According to Miles Yu, a former adviser to Mike Pompeo on China policy, China has severely restricted American access to Chinese markets and investments. Additionally, China has enacted several laws that effectively make every American businessman in China suspect of being a spy. Due to China’s refusal to participate in global free trade, all of its economic issues are due to this. It is driven by politics and policy. It’s ideologically motivated. Chinese officials made an effort to look cordial when they met Raimondo in public.
“Only through dialogue can we understand each other’s concerns, find common ground, and increase cooperation,” Chinese Premier Li Qiang stated Tuesday. “A well-maintained economic and trade relationship benefits both our countries and the world.” According to Raimondo, her Chinese counterparts were less honest in private sessions. According to a Commerce Department report of her discussion with Li, she “raised key issues of concern for U.S. businesses and workers, including the level playing field, PRC industry subsidization, and underdeveloped intellectual property protections.” She pressured Chinese authorities to explain their handling of Micron and Intel as she did U.S. rules.
“Our export controls are clear, transparent,” Raimondo stated. “There’s been no rationale for what’s happened to Micron, and due prices are low, so I brought it up.”
