China accused the United States on Saturday of “intimidation” after Washington announced export controls to SMIC, China’s largest computer chip maker, among other Chinese firms for alleged links to the Chinese military.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday that it “strongly opposes” the measure, which will affect the country’s largest chip maker, SMIC, and vowed to “take the necessary steps” to safeguard the rights of Chinese companies. .
He also accused the United States of “abusing export controls and other measures to continually repress” foreign entities, and has urged Washington to “stop unilateralism and intimidation.”
The Commerce Department said Washington has evidence that SMIC has worked with the Chinese military in developing short- and medium-range ballistic missiles and exoskeletons for soldiers, but that it had been arguing with the Chinese company for months about a way to avoid sanction.
This measure requires U.S. companies to apply for a license before exporting their products to SMIC, and specifically targets the Chinese company’s ability to acquire materials to produce chips 10 nanometers or less. the best in the industry.
The decision increases pressure on the chip maker, which has received billions of dollars in support of Beijing and is at the center of its efforts to improve the country’s technological self-sufficiency.
This new incident takes place in the last weeks of President Donald Trump’s term, under the administration relations between Washington and Beijing were strained and a trade war broke out, in which the United States expanded to a hundreds of Chinese companies and subsidiaries their list of sanctioned entities.