Congress Approves Bill to Bar Chinese Firms That Refuse Audits From US Stock Exchanges

By barring major Chinese firms like Alibaba from participating in US stock exchanges if they don’t submit to what Beijing considers to be onerous procedures, a bill expected to soon be signed into law could likely drive that wealth to other markets, experts claim.

The US House of Representatives unanimously passed The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act on Wednesday, just as it passed unanimously in the Senate in May. US President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill into law.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying suggested to reporters on Tuesday that the policy is “discriminatory”.

Advocates of the law say it serves to “protect Americans from being swindled” by Chinese companies that “mislead our investors” to “exploit hard-working Americans.”

“For too long, Chinese companies have disregarded US reporting standards, misleading our investors. Publicly listed companies should all be held to the same standards, and this bill makes commonsense changes to level the playing field and give investors the transparency they need to make informed decisions,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a bill co-sponsor, also said at the time.

Claiming that the government of Chinese President Xi Jinping “compels” ostensibly private firms to support its military-industrial complex, including raising capital by selling securities on foreign markets, Trump wrote that “the PRC exploits United States investors to finance the development and modernization of its military.”

Sourse: sputniknews.com