Ministry slams latest US trade restrictions

The Biden administration has recently resorted to a series of trade restrictions targeting China, which instead of slowing China's advancement, will only motivate the country to further strengthen its self-reliance and drive for technological innovation, officials and experts said.

Washington's heavy-handed approach to contain China's rise, despite pushbacks from US businesses and the international community, is short-sighted and will backfire, as it will only heighten tensions between the world's two largest economies and jeopardize global economic stability, they added.

"Over the past period, the Biden administration has intensively implemented an array of trade restriction measures against China, citing so-called national security concerns," a spokesperson with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday, expressing "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition" to these US moves.

These actions include escalating export controls on semiconductors, restricting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles in the US, and launching security probes into drone systems from China and other countries.

"The Biden administration's eleventh-hour crackdown on China seems to be driven by a desire to create a lasting anti-China policy framework that transcends party lines, hoping that the incoming Trump administration will maintain these suppressive measures," said Zhu Feng, dean of the School of International Studies at Nanjing University.

On Monday, president-elect Donald Trump is set to assume the US presidency for the second time.

The Biden administration's trade restriction measures have severely infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, disrupted market rules and the international economic and trade order, and threatened the stability of global industrial and supply chains, thereby harming the interests of businesses worldwide, including US firms, the spokesperson added.

In particular, a number of US companies and industry associations have voiced their opposition to the Biden administration's trade measures targeting China.

The Washington-based Semiconductor Industry Association said on Jan 6 in a statement regarding the Biden administration's plan to publish the "Export Control Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion" that: "We respectfully caution against making such a swift and significant shift in policy during this transitional period, and without meaningful consultation with industry. We are, however, deeply concerned by the unprecedented scope and complexity of this potential regulation, which was developed without industry input and could significantly undercut US leadership and competitiveness in semiconductor technology and advanced AI systems."

The MOC spokesperson said that the Biden administration's rhetoric and actions seem to be counterproductive, as its reliance on sanctions, containment and suppression measures are unlikely to impede China's forward progress. Instead, these tactics are likely to reinforce China's confidence and capabilities in achieving self-reliance and technological innovation.

China will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its own sovereignty, security and development interests in the face of US suppression efforts, the spokesperson added.

Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Zhongguancun Modern Information Consumer Application Industry Technology Alliance, a telecom industry association, said that the two consecutive US administrations' waging trade and technology wars against China since 2016 have failed to deliver the desired outcomes.

The US should abandon its efforts to turn economic and technological issues into political weapons and instead respect market forces to maintain the security and stability of global industrial chains, which would better serve the common interests of China, the US and the world at large, Xiang said.