Beijing:
Beijing on Saturday accused the United States of “bullying” just after Washington announced export controls on dozens of Chinese firms more than alleged ties to China’s military.
The announcement — in the final weeks of President Donald Trump’s term — comes just after relations amongst Washington and Beijing soured beneath his administration, which saw the US begin a trade war with China and expand its list of sanctioned entities to a couple of hundred Chinese organizations and subsidiaries.
China’s commerce ministry on Saturday stated it “firmly opposes” the move, which will impact the country’s greatest chipmaker, SMIC, and vowed to “take necessary measures” to safeguard Chinese companies’ rights.
The ministry accused the United States of “abusing export controls and other measures to continuously suppress” foreign entities, and urged Washington to “stop unilateralism and bullying”.
In a statement, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross stated the designations, which restrict US companies’ skills to do company with the firms, are more than an array of charges which includes human rights abuses, the activities of the Chinese military, specifically in the South China Sea, as properly as theft of US technologies.
The new US restrictions target 77 organizations and affiliates which includes 59 in mainland China, amongst them SMIC, as properly as SMIC’s Hong Kong unit and entities in more than half a dozen other nations from Bulgaria to France and Pakistan.
“China’s corrupt and bullying behavior both inside and outside its borders harms US national security interests, undermines the sovereignty of our allies and partners, and violates the human rights and dignity of ethnic and religious minority groups,” Ross stated.
“Commerce will act to ensure that America’s technology — developed and produced according to open and free-market principles — is not used for malign or abusive purposes.”
SMIC has received billions of dollars in help from Beijing and is at the heart of its efforts to increase the country’s technological self-sufficiency.
The designation suggests US organizations should apply for a licence ahead of exporting to SMIC, and particularly targets the Chinese firm’s potential to obtain components for creating chips of 10 nanometres or smaller sized, the finest class in the market.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)