China urges US to halt proposed expansion of outbound investment curbs

By Eduardo Baptista BEIJING, Oct 24 (Reuters) The Chinese commerce ministry urged the United States on Saturday to ​stop expanding restrictions on American ‌investments in China, saying a proposed rule on sensitive technologies would disrupt trade ties. The US Treasury Department issued proposals on Thursday to ‌update ​its outbound-investment security programme, ⁠adding biotechnology to ⁠restricted sectors and expanding coverage of high-performance computing and hypersonic systems. Beijing s commerce ministry said in a statement that ​the proposal discriminatorily widened China-related investment restrictions and intensified curbs. It firmly opposed the ⁠US proposal and ⁠reserved the right to take ​unspecified countermeasures, it added. Beijing also said the ​proposal would damage bilateral economic ties ‌and ran counter to the consensus reached by the countries presidents, who have met twice in the past six ⁠months. The US Treasury has said the measures, which do not only cover