Impending chip moves expose US hypocrisy again

The Joe Biden administration is set to unveil new export restrictions on China as soon as this week, the US Chamber of Commerce told members in a Thursday email.

The new regulations could add up to 200 Chinese chip companies to a trade restriction list that bars most US suppliers from shipping goods to the targeted companies, the email from the Washington-based lobbying group said, according to a Reuters report.

The US Commerce Department, which oversees US export policy, plans to publish the new regulations "prior to the Thanksgiving break", on Thursday, according to the email.

Another set of rules curbing shipments of high-bandwidth memory chips to China is expected to be unveiled next month as part of a broader artificial intelligence package, the email continues.

These are typical nonmarket moves that, if taken, show the Biden administration is plowing ahead with plans to further crack down on China's access to semiconductors even during its waning days in office, which contradict the administration's repeated vows that it does not seek to contain China's development, and hopes to make its competition with China in relevant fields "fair".

The semiconductor sector is highly globalized after decades of growth, and this is the result of the law of the market and the choice of enterprises. As the world's largest semiconductor market, China is willing to work with all sides to boost mutually beneficial cooperation and promote the security and stability of the global semiconductor industry and supply chains.

The practices of the Biden administration, reportedly under the excuse of protecting "national security", will disturb the global industry and supply chains, cut off the global semiconductor market, and essentially deny emerging markets and developing countries the right to a better life for their people.

These moves represent a serious breach of international economic and trade rules, a gross interference in free trade, and the typical economic bullying of the United States.

In so doing, the US will seriously damage the interests of all parties and hinder global scientific and technological exchanges and economic and trade cooperation. Such selfish moves will not only poison the atmosphere for international cooperation, and fuel division and confrontation, but also inevitably backfire on the US itself.