China-US Photo: GT

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday blasted the US' investment restrictions in China as "economic coercion" and "tech bullying," urging Washington to immediately withdraw its wrong decision while vowing to firmly safeguard the country's rights and interests.

China deplores and firmly rejects the US' investment restrictions targeting a number of high-tech industries in China and has lodged stern representations with the US side, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on its website.

Under the pretense of so-called "national security," Washington is seeking to curb US investment in China, abusing the concept of national security and continuing to politicize trade issues. Its real purpose is taking away China's right of development and maintaining its own hegemony, which is pure economic coercion and tech bullying, the foreign ministry said.

"The US' move seriously violates the principles of market economics and fair competition, damages international economic and trade rules, disrupts global industrial and supply chains and harms the interests of business communities in China, the US and even other countries around the world," it stressed. The nature of the US' move is promoting anti-globalization and de-sinicization, it said.

China urges the US to follow through on US President Joe Biden's commitment of not seeking to "decouple" from China and halt China's economic development or contain China. Beijing urges Washington to stop politicizing, instrumentalizing and weaponizing trade and tech issues, immediately withdraw its wrong decision and remove investment restrictions in China, and create a sound environment for China-US economic cooperation and trade.

"China will closely follow the situation and firmly safeguard our rights and interests," the foreign ministry said.

On Thursday, China's Commerce Ministry also blasted the newly announced US' investment restrictions, criticizing Washington for pushing toward "decoupling" bilateral investment  under the guise of "de-risking," while stressing that the Chinese side holds grave concerns and reserves the right to "take necessary measures."

The US' move seriously violates the principles of market economics and fair competition that the US has always proclaimed, and will impact business operations and decision making, in addition to damaging international trade rules and seriously disrupting global industrial and supply chains, China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website on Thursday.

"It is hoped that the US can respect the rules of the market economics and principles of fair competition, and refrain from purposely hindering global economic and trade exchanges and cooperation as well as setting barriers for the global economic recovery," the statement continued.

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday, banning new US investment covering key technology sectors in China such as semiconductors and other microelectronics, quantum computers and certain artificial intelligence applications.

"The Biden administration is committed to keeping America safe and defending America's national security through appropriately protecting technologies that are critical to the next generation of military innovation," the US Treasury Department said in a statement. The statement emphasized that the executive order is a "narrowly targeted action" complementing existing export controls and that the administration maintained its "longstanding commitment to open investment."

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said on Wednesday that China is "very disappointed" by the US' move, The Guardian reported.

In a statement, Liu Pengyu said the curbs would "seriously undermine the interests of Chinese and American companies and investors" and added that  "China will closely follow the situation and firmly safeguard our rights and interests."