Explainer | From AI to self-sufficiency: 5 things to know about a possible new US ban on investment in China
- US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen became the second senior figure to visit China in recent weeks after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken following her visit this month
- The visits were seen as moves to ease bilateral relations, but the US is still believed to be planning new restrictions on US investments in China
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s four-day visit to China this month raised hopes for respite after years of turbulent relations between the world’s top two economies.
But Yellen and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan have hinted since April that Washington will stop American investments in China, particularly in hi-tech areas, to keep secrets from reaching military end users.
And investors are braced for a “new, highly controversial tool in the works that would restrict certain US investments in China in specific sensitive technologies with significant national security implications”, the Peterson Institute for International Economics said in May.
But what do you need to know about the new restrictions?
1. Cloud computing, AI targeted
Yellen said in April that Washington would consider a programme to restrict outbound investments in sensitive technologies linked to national security.
I can see curtailment of exports relating to artificial intelligence and cloud computing, two areas that are highly sensitive and relate to national security