Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to restrict certain American investments into Chinese entities engaged in activities involving national security sensitive technologies in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and certain artificial intelligence systems.
"I would like to push back a little bit on the premise of the question that we've sharpened our language or that we're executing some sort of turn in the relationship, and that is just not so," Kirby said during a briefing.
"We have been very consistent about pushing back on China, in the region and beyond, rhetorically and tangibly where and when we believe it's in our best interest, in the interest of our allies and partners to do so."
The United States will continue to seek to improve its lines of communication with China, according to Kirby.
The US-China relationship is difficult, complex, and the most consequential one in the world, Kirby added.
A senior US administration official told reporters on Wednesday that Biden imposed the new US measures after a thoughtful, deliberate assessment, which included extensive consultations with allies and partners in the US Congress, industry and other stakeholders.
Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told Sputnik that Beijing is very disappointed Biden moved forward with plans to roll out new restrictions on US economic investment in China.
"The latest investment restrictions will seriously undermine the interests of Chinese and American companies and investors, hinder the normal business cooperation between the two countries and lower the confidence of the international community in the US business environment," Liu said.
Liu said the US overuses national security concerns to politicize and weaponize trade, scientific and technological issues and to deliberately create obstacles to normalize economic and trade exchanges and technological cooperation.