China expresses concerns to the US over chip restrictions

A senior Chinese official has expressed concern to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo about U.S. measures to restrict China's access to advanced chip technology, focusing on a contentious area in relations between the two countries, UNN reports citing Bloomberg.

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China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao expressed "serious concern" in a telephone conversation with Raimondo on Thursday over US actions to pressure ASML Holding NV to speed up the suspension of exports of certain lithography machines, the Chinese agency said in a statement. Raimondo's department is responsible for implementing export controls in the United States.

Dutch firm ASML has canceled shipments of some of its high-end products to China at the behest of the United States, weeks before the ban on exports of these machines came into effect, the newspaper reported.

In a conversation with Raimondo, Wang also raised the issue of her department's ongoing efforts to survey U.S. firms in various industries to determine how much they depend on Chinese-made chips. U.S. officials are considering imposing tariffs on low-cost chips from China, the publication reports. Officials claim that Washington's measures are aimed at preventing the Chinese military from accessing advanced technology, but these sanctions also make it more difficult for Chinese companies seeking to use the latest available technology.

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Thursday's exchange was only the second time that Wang and Raimondo's messages have been made public since her visit to the Asian country in August.

While she was on this trip, Huawei Technologies Co. unveiled the Mate 60 Pro phone, which runs on an advanced Chinese-made chip that the sanctions were meant to prevent. Raimondo expressed her dissatisfaction with the timing and promised to take the "most decisive" measures to protect US national security.

The leaders of the two countries have sent signals to establish ties: from Joe Biden, who said he wants the United States to help China's economy, to Xi Jinping, who calls for "peaceful coexistence" between the world's two largest economies, the publication notes.