TMTPOST -- China on Monday urged the United States to stop undercutting the constructive trade talks between the world ’ s top two economies earlier this month with its updated export control guidance on artificial intelligence ( AI ) chips.
China's Ministry of Commerce ( MOFCOM ) condemned the U.S. for abusing export control measures targeting Chinese chip products, urging the country to immediately correct its wrongdoings and cease discriminatory measures against China, the state news agency Xinhua reported.
China believes that the revised announcement from the U.S. Department of Commerce in essence still contains discriminatory measures and will distort the market, a MOFCOM spokesperson commented on the announcement on Monday. China firmly opposed the U.S. move as it has abused its export control measures and imposed stricter restrictions on Chinese chip products based on unfounded allegations, according to the spokesperson.
Such U.S. actions have seriously infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, threatened the security and stability of global semiconductor industrial and supply chains, and disrupted global technological innovation, said the spokesperson. The person warned that the U.S. protectionist actions to contain and isolate other countries will ultimately undermine the competitiveness of American industry, and accordingly will only shoot itself in the foot.
The spokesperson called for the U.S. to work with China to jointly safeguard the consensus reached in the high-level talks in Geneva, and promote the building of sustainable, long-term and mutually beneficial bilateral economic and trade relations. If the United States continues to cause China substantive harm, China will take resolute measures to defend its legitimate rights and interests, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson made the remarks after the Bureau of Industry and Security ( BIS ) under the U.S. Department of Commerce updated its statement about actions to strengthen export controls for overseas AI chips. The BIS previously said in the statement that it issued a guidance that "using Huawei Ascend chips anywhere in the world violates U.S. export controls", while it later said the guidance aims to alert "industry to the risks of using PRC advanced computing integrated circuits ( ICs ) , including specific Huawei Ascend chips."
Under the BIS guidance, three Huawei Ascend AI chip models, ranging from Ascend 910B, 910C to the most advanced 910D, were placed on a list of PRC 3A090 ICs subject to the presumption that General Prohibition 10 ( GP10 ) restrictions apply. There is a high probability that a BIS authorization was required for the export, reexport, transfer ( in-country ) , or export from abroad of any PRC 3A090 IC or related technology, unless such authorization was obtained, the guidance said.
Therefore, BIS is notifying all persons and companies in and outside U.S. that engaging in GP10 activities including use of PRC 3A090 ICs, such as the listed Huawei chips, without BIS authorization, could result in substantial criminal and administrative penalties, up to and including imprisonment, fines, loss of export privileges, or other restrictions.
China strongly opposes U.S. announcement regarding the use of Huawei's Ascend chips as a violation of U.S. export controls and warning the public of the potential consequences of allowing the use of U.S. AI chips to train Chinese AI models, and will never accept such move, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a daily news briefing on Friday. China will take resolute measures to safeguard its own right to development and the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, Lin said.
