The sweeping export controls announced on Monday by the US Department of Commerce and aimed at crippling the Chinese semiconductor industry has prompted immediate reaction of Beijing with the Ministry of Commerce vowing to safeguard China’s interests with necessary measures.
The US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has promoted this action as “the culmination of the Biden-Harris Administration’s targeted approach, in concert with our allies and partners, to impair the PRC’s ability to indigenize the production of advanced technologies that pose a risk to our national security”.
According to the Commerce Department’s claims, the Chinese semiconductors “can be used in the next generation of advanced weapon systems and in artificial intelligence,” a risk quoted to justify the ban on the export of 24 types of chip manufacturing equipment, three software programs, and high bandwidth memory to China.
The measures also include blacklisting 140 Chinese toolmakers, chip fabricators, investment firms and other entities with significant role in the development of China’s domestic semiconductor industry.
“This is a typical act of economic coercion and non-market practice. The US says one thing and does another… abusing export control measures, and implementing unilateral bullying. China firmly opposes this,” a spokesperson for the Chinese ministry said in response.
Noting that US unilateral actions hinder free and open trade between other nations, they concluded that “China will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”
