'De-risking but not decoupling': US keeps distance from China as tech rivalry intensifies

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that US President Joe Biden is seeking a “de-risking” but not decoupling relations with China. According to the South China Morning Post, the remarks by the US diplomat came on Thursday amid the rising tensions between the two global superpowers. While the issues between the two nations are wide-ranging, the growing technological rivalry between them and the ongoing Taiwan crisis sit at the top of the list. As per the Chinese news outlet, the remarks by Sullivan reflected his bid to align the US more closely with the European Union. Earlier this week, EU top diplomat Josep Borell suggested that the European Union should avoid getting into a confrontation between the United States and China. 

“We converged with key European leaders in saying we are for de-risking, not for decoupling,” he said during a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington, SCMP reported. “De-risking fundamentally means having resilient, effective supply chains and ensuring we cannot be subjected to the coercion of any other country,” he added. Apart from Borell, similar assertions were made by the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, during a policy speech she gave before she travelled to China to meet the Chinese President Xi Jinping. During the speech, Leyen also focused on the “de-risking” strategy which meant distancing the continent from conducting trade in sensitive technologies including artificial intelligence, microchips and quantum computing. Earlier this month, the EU foreign policy head also stated that the continent of Europe should reduce its dependency on China and other nations and should start becoming more self-reliant. 

Sullivan says US to continue with its ‘tailored’ restriction on semiconductor technology 

During his speech at the Brookings Institute, Sullivan insisted that the Biden administration will continue with its “tailored” restrictions on the advanced semiconductor technology getting exported to China. The US official called it the “small yard and high fence strategy”. Both the US and the EU are taking these strategies into action to reduce the chances of intellectual property theft by Chinese companies, something the country has been notorious for doing in the past. 

In his speech, Sullivan made it clear that these measures are not meant to harm China and are being taken to protect the national security of the United States. “They are not, as Beijing says, a technology blockade. They are not targeting emerging economies. They are focused on a narrow slice of technology and a small number of countries intent on challenging us militarily,” Sullivan stated. “We are not cutting off trade. In fact, the United States continues to have a very substantial trade and investment relationship with China,” he added. Last week, the US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, also alluded to the same assertions. She said “decoupling from China” will be “disastrous” for the global economy.