China hits back at recent US efforts to block Beijing's access to chip technology

2024-12-03 07:25:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

China hits back at recent US efforts to block Beijing's access to chip

The Chinese government has criticized America's imposition of a series of export controls on US-made semiconductors, which Washington fears Beijing could use to produce the next generation of weapons and artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

The new measures, unveiled by the outgoing Biden administration, have raised the political temperature between the world's two leading economies.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made self-sufficiency a key pillar of his economic strategy to make China a technological superpower.

On Monday, the US Commerce Department announced restrictions on the sale of two dozen types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and restrictions on many Chinese companies from accessing US technology.

The purpose of the new controls, US Commerce Department officials said, was to slow the development of advanced AI tools that could be used in warfare and undermine the country's domestic semiconductor industry, which threatens US national security. and its allies.

China's Ministry of Commerce condemned the move, accusing the US of "abusing" export controls and posing "a significant threat" to the stability of global industrial and supply chains.

Senior US officials have also accused China of outright stealing American-made artificial intelligence software, which Beijing denies.

"They are the strongest controls ever enacted by the US to degrade the PRC's ability to make the most advanced chips they are using in their military modernization," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters on Sunday./ CNA