NYSE delists Chinese telcos, China responds with generic threats

The New York Stock Exchange has been compelled to delist the stocks of China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom.

Scott Bicheno

January 4, 2021

2 Min Read
Tense relations between United States and China. Concept of conflict and stress

The New York Stock Exchange has been compelled to delist the stocks of China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom.

The move was announced on New Year’s Eve and was made to comply with Executive Order 13959, which makes some vague link between the trade of Chinese stocks and the funding of the Chinese military. In practice it’s just another front of US President Trump’s campaign to isolate China politically and economically.

“NYSE Regulation reached its decision that the Issuers are no longer suitable for listing pursuant to Listed Company Manual Section 802.01D in light of Executive Order 13959, which was signed on November 12, 2020,” said the NYSE announcement. “The Order prohibits, beginning 9:30 a.m. eastern standard time on January 11, 2021, any transaction in publicly traded securities, or any securities that are derivative of, or are designed to provide investment exposure to such securities, of any Communist Chinese military company, by any United States person.”

The irony of actions like this is that they bring the US closer to behaving in exactly the way it criticises China of. The main issue with Huawei and other Chinese telcos is that they are thought to be beholden to the Chinese state and will thus assist with its dastardly machinations. In order to defend itself from this threat, however, the US state is increasingly compelling domestic companies to do what it tells them.

China has stuck to the standard playbook in response by threatening ‘necessary countermeasures’, according to a dw.com report. This is the default response by the Chinese state to pretty much anything it doesn’t like. The past year has revealed it to be a global playground bully which has over played its hand such that its generic threats are largely discounted.

About the Author

Scott Bicheno

As the Editorial Director of Telecoms.com, Scott oversees all editorial activity on the site and also manages the Telecoms.com Intelligence arm, which focuses on analysis and bespoke content.
Scott has been covering the mobile phone and broader technology industries for over ten years. Prior to Telecoms.com Scott was the primary smartphone specialist at industry analyst Strategy Analytics’. Before that Scott was a technology journalist, covering the PC and telecoms sectors from a business perspective.
Follow him @scottbicheno

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