China lambasts US for 'harshest' chip export ban; says the move 'will isolate' Washington

As the Biden administration imposed sweeping measures on Chinese exports including the ban on semiconductor chips, China on Saturday strongly reacted against the block and the trade rivalry. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning criticised the US' tightened control as the violation of international economic and trade laws that will “isolate and backfire” on Washington. According to the Chinese government mouthpiece Global Times, China has lambasted the US for its "harshest" ban on shipment of certain semiconductor chips, saying that cutting PRC off from foreign chips will grossly impact the global multinationals firms and will have economic repercussions.   

Attempt to maintain 'sci-tech hegemony'

At a presser, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning iterated that the US ban on semiconductor chips has been imposed due to the Biden administration's need "to maintain its sci-tech hegemony, the US abuses export control measures to maliciously block and suppress Chinese companies." “It will not only damage the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, but also affect American companies' interests,” she reportedly added. 

China labelled the ban as the weaponisation and politicisation of technology and attempt to create hindrances to the international tech exchanges and economic cooperation. She, moreover, insisted that such bans will "not stop China's tech development" but will backfire on the US. The Biden administration earlier this week added chipmaker YMTC, KLA Corp, Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc, and 30 other Chinese entities to the “unverified” trade list.

US Commerce Department official Alan Estevez told a briefing that the block is aimed at keeping the "sensitive technologies with military applications" away from China's military, intelligence and security services. She stressed that the move would preserve the United States' own national security and foreign policy interests. As the measure came into effect, US' ally Taiwan issued a statement saying that it would abide by the US export controls. 

An official told the Guardian newspaper that the unilateral controls on China "will lose effectiveness over time if other countries don’t join us." “And we risk harming US technology leadership if foreign competitors are not subject to similar controls.” Previously, the Biden administration banned the export of chips to overseas Beijing based telecoms giant Huawei Technologies, and had also restricted the sale to Russia over its brutal invasion of Ukraine.