Washington gives in to its dark side: China Daily editorial

The United States Department of Commerce announced a raft of new rules on Tuesday in a bid to "plug loopholes" in the existing restrictions on advanced computer chips and chip-making equipment it launched last year.

In addition to cutting off Chinese companies' access to specific advanced chips from such US chipmakers as AMD and Nvidia, two Chinese chip designers, Moore Threads and Biren Technology, have been blacklisted, and licensing requirements for exports of advanced chips and equipment have been expanded to dozens of other countries which allegedly present risks of diversion to China.

The aim is to elbow China further away from the semiconductor industry's cutting-edge technology.

The excuse, as has been the case since the Donald Trump days, is still the umbrella formula of national security plus human rights. "The goal is the same goal that has always been, which is to limit China's access to advanced semiconductors that could fuel breakthroughs in artificial intelligence," said US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

AI capabilities empowered by supercomputing and advanced chips have broad military applications. And Raimondo said that the stricter export controls are meant to control such "transformational" technology even though the slowdown in Chinese capability around high-level AI can have societal benefits and be "used for goodness" as the Joe Biden administration has acknowledged.

Everything else aside, the US government is clearly taking full advantage of its dominance in new and emerging technologies to keep the upper hand in what it regards as decisive competition with China. Its continuous moves to deny China access to US technologies and equipment is only part of its attempt to suppress Chinese technological progress, especially in the semiconductor field. The attempt serves the strategic purpose of winning the strategic competition with China.

The Joe Biden administration has never stopped stressing that it has no intention to choke the Chinese economy. But it seems ready to do whatever it takes to do just that. The Chinese ministries of commerce and foreign affairs were correct in pointing out that US and other Western companies are also among the direct victims of the latest measures. AMD and Nvidia know it. ASML knows it.

And the US Semiconductor Industry Association, which is still "evaluating the impact", has stated: "Overly broad, unilateral controls risk harming the US semiconductor ecosystem without advancing national security".

While the fabricated national security and human rights narrative may work for a while, its abusive use will hurt both countries, and impede global technological advancement in the end.

Everyone knows the enormous potential of new technologies, including AI, to improve people's livelihoods. US politicians accuse Beijing of using them for evil ends, but it is just they that have chosen to dwell on the dark side.