Still, she said, enforcement of these rules is “not up for debate, not up for compromise, not up even really for discussion. But it is important that we have transparency with the Chinese and that our national security policies are understood by our P.R.C. counterparts to avoid misunderstanding, to avoid unnecessary escalation, to avoid miscalculation,” she said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
A deteriorating business environment for foreign firms
In addition to raising concerns about China’s treatment of Micron, Ms. Raimondo is expected to air complaints from other Western businesses who say they are increasingly worried about accidentally triggering China’s expansive national security laws.
In March, the Chinese authorities detained five Chinese nationals working in Beijing for the Mintz Group, an American consulting company, and in April, the authorities questioned employees in the Shanghai office of Bain & Company, the U.S. management consulting firm. The Chinese government imposed a $1.5 million fine this month on Mintz for doing unapproved statistical work.
International executives now regularly express worries about carrying out routine business activities, like performing due diligence on acquisition targets or transferring data between subsidiaries. American multinationals have begun preparing contingency plans in case their employees are detained in China, and have sent back very few of the expatriates who had evacuated the country during the pandemic.
Those anxieties, along with technology controls, tariffs and other barriers to trade, have most likely contributed to a trend of declining foreign investment in China.
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