China says U.S. semiconductor export restrictions will backfire

Oct. 8 (UPI) -- China's foreign ministry issued a sharp rebuke of U.S. policy on Saturday, proclaiming new American rules limiting the export of semiconductors will backfire and not hold back China's development.

The ministry said the U.S. Department of Commerce's move to implement new export controls ran counter to the "principle of fair competition."

"In order to maintain its sci-tech hegemony, the U.S. has been abusing export control measures to wantonly block and hobble Chinese enterprises," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters during a Saturday news conference.

"Such practice runs counter to the principle of fair competition and international trade rules. It will not only harm Chinese companies' legitimate rights and interests, but also hurt the interests of U.S. companies," she said.

The move will instead "hinder international sci-tech exchange and trade cooperation, and deal a blow to global industrial and supply chains and world economic recovery," the official added.

By "politicizing tech and trade issues and using them as a tool and weapon, the U.S. cannot hold back China's development but will only hurt and isolate itself when its action backfires," Mao said.

Her comments come a day after the commerce department's Bureau of Industry and Security moved to limit U.S. exports of semiconductor technology.

The series of targeted updates to exports controls are part of "efforts to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests" and are aimed at restricting China's "ability to both purchase and manufacture certain high-end chips used in military applications," the department said in a statement.

China's top memory chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies and 30 other Chinese companies were added to an "Unverified List," denoting that U.S. officials have been unable to inspect their operations.

"[China] has poured resources into developing supercomputing capabilities and seeks to become a world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030," assistant Commerce Secretary Thea Rozman Kendler said in a statement. "It is using these capabilities to monitor, track, and surveil their own citizens, and fuel its military modernization."

The U.S. move will protect American national security and foreign policy interests "while also sending a clear message that U.S. technological leadership is about values as well as innovation," Kendler said.

China's reaction comes weeks after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met in Tokyo with Japanese business leaders working in the semiconductor business to discuss investments in the U.S. manufacturing sector as well as ways to build up the supply chain for associated materials.