China containment a dead-end endeavor: China Daily editorial

It was reported on Friday that the Netherlands and Japan have agreed to join the United States in barring shipments to China of some of their most advanced equipment for manufacturing semiconductors. That will make it increasingly difficult for China to manufacture the chips it needs for its industries.

Although the agreement between the three parties is yet to be announced and it will take time for the deal to be implemented, China should harbor no hope of importing high-tech machinery from Western countries. It has become increasingly obvious that the country must pull out all the stops to develop the necessary technologies and equipment on its own, those for manufacturing semiconductors in particular.

Under the US' pressure, the Dutch government has already forbidden sales of its most advanced ultraviolet lithography systems to China. But the US has encouraged the Dutch to also limit sales of slightly less advanced ultraviolet lithography equipment. The deal reached Friday includes at least some restrictions on that equipment, according to reports.

But ultimately it is wishful thinking for the US to believe that anything it does with its allies to bar shipments of high-tech machinery and technologies to China will strangle the industrial development of the country, and thereafter contain its rise.

Instead, the US restrictions on the export technologies to China and its pressuring of its allies to do the same will only turn out to be a motivating force for this country to pool its resources to accelerate the endogenous development of core technologies.

Being self-reliant has long been a mainstay of this country's development, although it will continue to open up and be inclusive when it comes to its cooperation with the rest of the world in an increasingly wide range of areas. But what the US has been doing in its attempt to contain the rise of China has only made this country increasingly aware that it needs to keep the reins of its development in its hands.

China must pool its resources to develop the core technologies and machineries it needs, and it must focus on developing its economy with a view to overtaking the US. Doing so will make it impossible for the attempts of the US to contain China to succeed.

The more developed China becomes, the more opportunities it will have to cooperate with more countries. The larger it becomes as an economic giant, the more transnational companies will be attracted to its market. China believes that multilateralism and globalization are the way for humanity to go forward, their reversal leads to a dead end.