On Thursday, President Joe Biden issued an executive order listing 59 companies designated as Chinese military-linked firms that are subject to a ban on U.S. investments. The ban was implemented by then-President Donald Trump via executive order last year.
The order includes companies designated as being involved in the “Defense and Related Materials Sector,” involved in the “Surveillance Technology Sector” for China, or owned or controlled either directly or indirectly by a person or entity who is currently or was previously involved in either of the two listed sectors.
The list of companies in Biden’s executive order include: Aero Engine Corporation of China; Aerospace CH UAV Co., Ltd; Aerospace Communications Holdings Group Company Limited; Aerosun Corporation; Anhui Greatwall Military Industry Company Limited; Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Ltd.; AVIC Aviation High-Technology Company Limited; AVIC Heavy Machinery Company Limited; AVIC Jonhon Optronic Technology Co., Ltd.; AVIC Shenyang Aircraft Company Limited; AVIC Xi’An Aircraft Industry Group Company Ltd.; Changsha Jingjia Microelectronics Company Limited China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology; China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited; China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation; China Aerospace Times Electronics Co., Ltd; China Avionics Systems Company Limited; China Communications Construction Company Limited; China Electronics Technology Group Corporation; China General Nuclear Power Corporation; China Marine Information Electronics Company Limited; China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd.; China National Nuclear Corporation; China National Offshore Oil Corporation; China North Industries Group Corporation Limited; China Nuclear Engineering Corporation Limited; China Railway Construction Corporation Limited; China Satellite Communications Co., Ltd.; China Shipbuilding Industry Company Limited; China Shipbuilding Industry Group Power Company Limited; China South Industries Group Corporation; China Spacesat Co., Ltd.; China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited; China Telecommunications Corporation; China United Network Communications Group Co., Ltd.; Costar Group Co., Ltd.; CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) Company Limited; Fujian Torch Electron Technology Co., Ltd.; Guizhou Space Appliance Co., Ltd; Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd.; Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.; Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group Co., Ltd.; Inspur Group Co., Ltd.; Jiangxi Hongdu Aviation Industry Co., Ltd.; Nanjing Panda Electronics Company Limited; North Navigation Control Technology Co., Ltd.; Panda Electronics Group Co., Ltd.; Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation; Shaanxi Zhongtian Rocket Technology Company Limited; and Zhonghang Electronic Measuring Instruments Company Limited. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited; CNOOC Limited; Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.; Panda Electronics Group Co., Ltd.; Proven Glory Capital Limited; and Proven Honour Capital Limited.
The executive order prohibits U.S. persons from the purchase or sale of any publicly traded securities and derivatives of those securities from the listed companies.
Biden’s order expands on Executive Order 13959, signed on November 12 by Trump, which prohibited U.S. investment in securities, of any Communist Chinese military company and requiring U.S. companies to eventually divest from their existing holdings in those companies.
“This E.O. prevents U.S. investment from supporting the Chinese defense sector, while also expanding the U.S. Government’s ability to address the threat of Chinese surveillance technology firms that contribute — both inside and outside China — to the surveillance of religious or ethnic minorities or otherwise facilitate repression and serious human rights abuses,” a White House fact sheet for the order states. “It signals that the Administration will not hesitate to prevent U.S. capital from flowing into the PRC’s defense and related materiel sector, including companies that support the PRC’s military, intelligence, and other security research and development programs; or into Chinese companies that develop or use Chinese surveillance technology to facilitate repression or serious human rights abuse.”
Biden’s order came two days after a bipartisan group of lawmakers issued a letter to the Pentagon, requesting it provide an up-to-date list of companies deemed to be working for China’s military and government surveillance apparatus. A provision of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) required the Pentagon to provide that list by April 15, but the required delivery of the Pentagon list was delayed amid the Biden administration’s continued review of the Trump-era executive order.
