Beijing-China said on Saturday that it will take the necessary measures in response to the announcement by the New York Stock Exchange that it will remove from the list three major Chinese telecommunications companies, in the latest outbreak of tensions between Beijing and Washington.
The stock exchange said on Thursday that it would remove from the list China Telecom Corp. Ltd., China Mobile Ltd. and China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd., and that trading in the companies will be suspended sometime between January 7 and 11. .
The move stems from an executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Nov. 12 that bans investment in listed companies that, according to the U.S. government, are owned or controlled by the Chinese military.
“China opposes Americans abusing national security by including Chinese companies on the list of ‘China’s communist military companies’ and will take the necessary countermeasures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, “a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
The actions will also “greatly weaken the confidence of all parties in the U.S. capital market,” the statement added.
The ministry did not provide details on what the measures might be.
With Trump, and especially in his last weeks in office, the United States has intensified economic sanctions and travel bans against companies in that country, government officials and members of the Communist Party.
In December, the United States announced plans to limit visas for Communist Party members and their families to one month, instead of 10 years.
Chinese technology giant Huawei has been excluded from the US market and the United States has pressured other countries to follow suit, albeit with mixed results.