Powerful countries have been known for prying into each other’s business through illegal means. Before the technological advancement era, they used spies to tap into sectors that contained the required information. They were planted into the essential departments such as military, defense, special forces units, and law-makers’ facilities.
The 20th century brought intelligent and super-advanced devices that are used to gather information. This form of spying is safe as military personnel is not put in danger, and the instruments used can retrieve vast databases of information. These powerful states are always looking into more innovative and efficient ways of defending themselves against any attack, be it a war with machines or hacking systems. Almost every country pours many resources into defense mechanisms and military upgrades at the expense of other vital sectors like welfare, health, and education.
China and the United States of America (US) have always competed with each other to bring about new technologies and devices. This competition established mistrust between these two. They cannot afford to tolerate any unique ‘activity in each other’s territories, especially anything associated with surveillance and technology. Surveillance involves continuous monitoring of an entity, which means one can scout out confidential and sensitive material of any place they are stationed at. The government can use gadgets such as drones and CCTV cameras for this task.
Joe Biden was carrying on with the security trend of the US government in restricting any outside nation from threatening the safekeeping of US secrets and valuable information from falling into the hands of ‘foreigners.’
He blacklisted about 59 Chinese surveillance and tech companies from US Investment [Source], which are allegedly associated with monitoring religious trends and abusing the right to privacy of US citizens.
Donald Trump launched the order to do so. And Biden is propagating it further as it a genuine concern in protecting the country’s values. Biden has banned Americans from investing in those companies that might endanger state secrets, among other sensitive information. This order will be activated on the second of August 2021, and Biden has emphasized that it should be followed as prescribed [Source].
The updated list of banned countries includes many Chinese companies, even the biggest ones that have been functioning under the US watch for a long time. The major banned companies include China Mobile Communications Group Co., China Unicom Ltd., China Telecommunications Corp., Aviation Industry Corp. of China, Ltd., China North Industries Group Corp., China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Ltd., China Shipbuilding Industry Co., and Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. [Source].
President Biden expanded the list by including all the companies linked to Chinese military and surveillance activities, and that implicated one undermining certain marginalized ethnic groups and religious practices in the US.
The Chinese officials are not happy with this ban and argue that it affects the relationship and international relations between them. TUS’s considerable upset bishat claims an underground ‘evil agenda’ that these companies want to achieve. Also, they have been blamed for abusing human rights by the president, so such claims taint the image of Chinese corporates in most countries.
Reactions from Beijing, China have suggested that the US needs to assess the validity of these ‘claims’ before disrupting the operation of big companies in that manner. Corporations rely on investors who boost their business financially, and without investment, they might drown due to expenses incurred.
However, given the mindset of Biden, who is still new in office, it is clear that he will not backtrack his stance. The order has also attracted sympathizers from the American community who believe that the safety of a country’s values must be secured against all odds.
