Nations US doesn't like are its enemies: China Daily editorial

The United States first imposed restrictions on the exports of chips to China in 2015. It extended it in 2021, and again in 2022. So vicious is the US' restriction policy that it didn't spare even a Western company, Dublin-based data storage equipment provider Seagate Technology Holdings, for exporting hard drives to Chinese telecom giant Huawei, a main target of the US high-tech war, in April. The US forced Seagate to pay $300 million for violating its "orders".

In 2022, China's integrated circuit imports dropped by 3.9 percent year-on-year, while its imports from the US dropped by 29.2 percent. With its chips supply almost cut off, Huawei had to develop its own chips to make the latest Mate 60 and Mate 60 Pro smartphones.

Not content with imposing sanctions on Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese high-tech companies, in order to check the development of China's high-tech sector, the US Department of Commerce added 42 more Chinese companies to its Entity List on Friday for "their support for Moscow's military and defense industrial base — support that includes the supply of US-origin integrated circuits".

But how could they do that when US high-tech supplies are drying up and China is developing its own chips?

The US' move is nothing but economic bullying. By targeting the 42 Chinese companies, the US is abusing the concept of national security and using its self-proclaimed extraterritorial jurisdiction to target China and Chinese companies. The US, therefore, should be prepared to face countermeasures from the Chinese side.

The US Commerce Department has also added seven entities, from as diverse countries as Finland, Germany, India, Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, to its trade export control list, again for their "support for Russia".

It's too early to say whether the US has any evidence supporting its claim, but it has long believed in the dictum "either you are with us or against us", which former US president George W. Bush first spoke publicly about during the Afghanistan war in 2001. To be sure, the US sees enemies everywhere, indicating it is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The US has always used Russia, whether or not it does something, as an excuse to violate international laws and interfere in other countries' internal affairs, and puts the entities of any country it does not like on its Entity List.

China and Russia are good neighbors, and partnership is what best defines their relationship. Yet the US continues to see enemies. It's time Washington changed its course.