China urges US to heed domestic calls for reason, stop obstructing Chinese companies

BEIJING -- The United States needs to listen to domestic voices calling for reason, and stop blocking and crippling Chinese companies, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday.

According to reports, an American industry coalition sent a letter to Jack Reed, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services, and James Inhofe, ranking member of the committee. The letter said that the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) amendment banning government agencies from doing business with Chinese semiconductor manufacturers is not clearly defined in laws or regulations, and will present huge burdens to contractors and the government.

"The NDAA is essentially US domestic legislation. That said, we firmly reject inserting negative content about China into the draft legislation," spokesperson Mao Ning told a daily news briefing when answering a relevant query.

Global industrial and supply chains take shape as a result of both the law of the market and the choices of businesses, Mao said. The letter from the US business community shows that arbitrary disruption and damage to global industrial and supply chains serve no one's interests, and such actions will receive no support, Mao added.

"The United States needs to listen to domestic voices calling for reason, stop politicizing, weaponizing and ideologizing economic, trade and sci-tech issues, stop blocking and hobbling Chinese companies, respect the law of the market economy and free trade rules, and defend the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains," Mao said.