Ministry wants level playing field for Chinese companies in US

China on Monday urged the United States government to stop its crackdown on Chinese companies and provide a fair, just and nondiscriminatory environment for Chinese firms operating in the country, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce.

The ministry made the remarks after the US government on Nov 12 decided to ban US investments in Chinese companies that it claimed are linked to the Chinese military. The executive order was signed on Thursday, which applies to 31 Chinese companies that it says "enable the development and modernization" of China's military and "directly threaten" US security.

Disregarding the facts, the US government has alleged that the Chinese companies are military-controlled. The allegation is groundless, lacks evidence and is against legal principles, said a spokesperson in the statement.

The ministry said the US government has repeatedly generalized the national security concept and abused its national power to suppress Chinese companies, seriously violating market competition principles and international trade rules.

China's capital market has been increasingly favored by global investors, including US companies, in recent years. This reflects the confidence of international investors in China's economic growth and their recognition of the deepening reform and opening up of the country's capital market, said the spokesperson.

The ministry pointed out that some people in the US used the so-called national security as a pretext to artificially block the US investors' access to the Chinese market or even politicize it. This is not in line with the market rules and will only cause companies to miss growth opportunities and harm investors' interests. Market forces cannot be suppressed by the actions of a few politicians.

China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom, three major telecom operators in China, said in separate statements on Monday that their initial evaluations suggest that the ban may affect their stock prices and they are closely following the situation to fully understand the impacts.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which is designed to represent performance of the large and mid-cap stocks across 26 emerging markets, also said in a statement that it is monitoring the situation and analyzing any potential impact of such restrictions on the investability and replicability of the MSCI Indexes. MSCI said it will issue further communication in this regard when more information is available.