"The Company has no relationship with the Chinese military and does not manufacture for any military end-users or end-uses." Shares in SMIC closed 2.7% lower on Monday. CNOOC's listed unit CNOOC Ltd, whose shares fell by almost 14% after the Reuters report, said in a stock market statement that it had inquired with its parent and learnt that it had not received any formal notice from relevant U.S. authorities. China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, in response to a question about Washington's planned move, that China hoped the United States would not erect barriers and obstacles to cooperation and discriminate against Chinese companies. Later on Monday, Bernstein Research downgraded CNOOC Ltd's stock to 'market perform' by applying a 30% discount to share price targets, citing sanction risks that range from a ban on U.S. funds owning CNOOC stock to prohibiting US companies from doing business with CNOOC.