Image Source: Agencies

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order blocking and regulating US high-tech investment in China. The move, the administration said, was purposeful, but it also reflected the intensifying competition between the world's two biggest powers.
The order covers advanced computer chips, microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence. Administration officials said the effort was driven by national security goals rather than economic interests and that the categories covered were intentionally narrow. The order aims to undermine China's ability to use US investment in technology companies to improve its military capabilities while maintaining a broader level of trade that is vital to both countries economies.
China's Ministry of Commerce responded in a statement early Thursday that it was "gravely concerned" by the order and reserved the right to take action. The United States and China seem increasingly locked in a geopolitical rivalry with conflicting values. Officials in the Biden administration have said they are not interested in disengagement from China, but the United States has also limited exports of advanced computer chips and maintained expanded tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. And in response, China accused the US of "using cover protection" to disconnect and break the chain.