Biden May Not Try To Stop All High-Tech Investment in China

A Politico story on Feb. 28 reported that President Biden will not, as China hawks filling the U.S. Congress have been expecting, issue an executive order with broad new restrictions on American investment in China, on the heels of his orders attempting to strangle China’s advanced semiconductor production firms. According to Politico’s claimed “five people on Capitol Hill and K Street with knowledge of the White House discussions,” Biden will still issue an order stopping U.S.-based investment in any part of the Chinese semiconductor industry, already subject to U.S. sanctions as deadly in intent, as those placed on Russia’s economy a year ago. For other high-technology industries in China, these sources suppose that the Biden order, anticipated by early April at the latest, to require notification of “federal authorities” before any U.S.-based firm plans an investment in such things as quantum computing or artificial intelligence in China.