An already strained US-China trade war took another dimension as the world’s largest stock exchange, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) began its proceedings to delist the securities of three Chinese companies for their alleged affinity to China’s military.
Chinese state-owned telecom firms China Telecom Corporation Ltd, China Mobile Ltd and the world’s fourth-largest mobile service provider by subscriber base, China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd will be soon removed from the trading floors of NYSE.
The move is seen as an extension of the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump in November to restrict American firms from investing in China-based companies that are regarded to be owned or controlled by the Chinese military.
The order had given U.S. investors a deadline of January 11, 2021, to stop trading of “publicly traded securities, or any securities that are derivative of, or are designed to provide investment exposure to such securities, of any “Communist Chinese military company.”
US citizens as long as they are engaged in disinvestment from these firms can continue to tansact these securities till Nov. 11, 2021.
Commenting on the reasoning behind the executive order, the White House stated that “China is increasingly exploiting United States capital to resource and to enable the development and modernization of its military, intelligence, and other security apparatuses.”
The NYSE will reportedly suspend the trading of secutrities from these three companies between January 7 and January 11. All three firms have separate listings in Hong Kong.
