NEW YORK, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday that would block U.S. high-tech investments in China though Washington has said repeatedly stated it has no interest in "decoupling" from China.

Designating China as a "country of concern," the order aims to limit U.S. investments in three categories of national security technologies: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and certain artificial intelligence systems, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

The order also requires U.S. venture capitalists and other investors to notify the Treasury of prospective investment into Chinese companies for developing technologies in the targeted sectors.

The order is expected to go into effect following a 45-day comment period.

Having been planned for months, the order is widely considered to be another step to suppress China's technological progress under the pretext of national security as the U.S. doubles down on its high-tech rivalry with China.