New York Stock Exchange Reverses Course Again, Will Delist 3 Chinese Telecom Firms After All

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City on March 20, 2020. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The New York Stock Exchange said on Jan. 6 that it will delist three Chinese telecom companies beginning on Jan. 11, in another U-turn a day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told the NYSE chief he disagreed with its earlier decision to reverse the delistings.

The latest move marks the third about-turn, amid confusion over rules set by the Trump administration and escalating tensions within Washington on China policy.

The bourse had on Jan. 4 reversed a decision announced just last week to delist China Mobile, China Telecom Corp., and China Unicom Hong Kong. The stock exchange said it halted the delisting after consulting with regulators in connection with the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Plans to delist the three Chinese firms were prompted by a White House executive order (pdf) issued on Nov. 12, 2020, to ban U.S. investments in Chinese companies designated by the Pentagon as having ties to the Chinese military, citing threats to U.S. national security.

The three firms were among 35 Chinese companies on the Pentagon list.

Previously, the MSCI Inc., FTSE Russell, S&P Dow Jones, and Nasdaq have all announced removing some Chinese companies from their indices, in compliance with the executive order.

The Chinese Communist Party, through its aggressive national strategy called “Military-Civil Fusion,” funnels innovations by Chinese companies into the Chinese military for its technological development, Trump’s executive order states.

On Jan. 5, Mnuchin told NYSE President Stacey Cunningham that he disagreed with the bourse’s prior decision.

The Pentagon also criticized the decision in a statement to Bloomberg News, noting that keeping the companies on the exchange “promotes intelligence collection activities” by Beijing. But the statement was later retracted.

Reporting by Anirban Sen. The Epoch Times contributed to this report.