CHINA will take necessary measures to protect the interests of Chinese enterprises, said a spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce on Saturday.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced Thursday that it would begin delisting China’s three big telcom firms, including China Telecom Corp., China Mobile Ltd. and China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd.

The NYSE said the move is to comply with an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump that imposes restrictions on companies identified as “affiliated with the Chinese military.”

China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that the delisting was “an abuse of national security” and “inconsistent with market rules,” which will harm not only the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, but the interests of investors in various countries, including the United States, and seriously weaken all parties’ confidence in the U.S. capital market.

“China opposes the U.S. act of abusing national security and listing Chinese enterprises as so-called ‘Communist Chinese military companies’ and will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises,” Xinhua quoted the spokesperson as saying.

“Meanwhile, we hope that the United States and China will meet each other half-way and work together to create a fair, stable and predictable business environment for the companies and investors of both countries, and push bilateral economic and trade relations back on track as soon as possible.”

The Trump administration’s move to limit Chinese companies from listing in the United States is “self-sabotage,” which can’t be good for America because the move reduces the service of one of the country’s strongest industries, Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in an exclusive interview with CGTN’s BizTalk.

Trump signed into law the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act in December. It threatened to bar shares of foreign companies from being listed in the United States if they have failed to comply with U.S. auditing oversight rules within three years. The act is widely regarded as targeting Chinese firms listed in the United States, as part of the Trump administration’s escalating hostility toward Chinese companies.

China’s securities regulator has offered to join hands with U.S. audit inspectors to solve the problem. “Unfortunately, our U.S. friends don’t seem to be interested in solving this problem,” according to Fang.

If the U.S. hostility toward Chinese companies continues, U.S.-listed Chinese companies have alternative options and can return to Hong Kong, Shanghai, and even London to list, Fang said.

Actually, two Chinese companies have recently listed their global depositary receipts in London instead of in New York, as a result of international competition for good companies, Fang said.

(Xinhua-CGTN)