A move following Trump’s order bans U.S. investments in Chinese companies allegedly linked to Chinese weapons.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is beginning the process of listing the securities of three Chinese telecommunications companies, China Telecom Corporation Limited, China Mobile Limited and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited, it said in a statement .
The move comes after U.S. President Donald Trump in November issued an enforcement order banning U.S. investments in Chinese companies that Washington says are owned or controlled by Chinese weapons, which could affect some of the largest companies in China.
The November ruling order sought to eradicate teeth in 1999 mandated that the Department of Defense compile a list of Chinese arms companies. The Pentagon, which has not complied with the mandate this year, has so far named 35 companies, including oil company CNOOC Ltd and China’s leading chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.
Each of the telecommunications companies listed by the NYSE in Hong Kong has a list.
The NYSE said the distributors were no longer eligible for listing as the order prohibits any transactions in securities “designed to invest in such securities, of a Chinese Communist arms company. by anyone from the United States ”.
NYSE said it would suspend trading on Jan. 7 or Jan. 11. The distributors have the right to review the decision.
Ties between Washington and Beijing have become increasingly unnatural over the past year with the stimulus of the two major world economies as Beijing handled the coronavirus revolution, adding the implementation of national security law in Hong Kong and rising tensions in the South China Sea.