China Sues US over Chip Export Curbs at WTO

BEIJING, December 12 (TMTPOST)— China lodges a complaint against the United States over the recent export restrictions at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Source: Visual China

China resorts to the WTO dispute settlement system against the U.S. curbs on Chinese exports including chips on December 12, and as a legal means to address its concerns, China’s filling of trade dispute is necessary to defend its legitimate rights and interests, an official at the Department of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Commerce answered a reporter’s question about the WTO case on Monday.

in recent years, the U.S. effectively has the typical practice of trade protectionism that harms the interests of global peace and development since it has continuously generalized the concept of national security, abused export trade measures by export controls, hindered the normal international trade of chips and other products, threatened the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain, disrupted the international economic and trade order, violated international economic and trade rules, and violated basic principles, according to the official. The person urged the U.S. to abandon its zero-sum game thinking, correct its practices in a timely manner, stop disrupting the trade of high-tech products such as chips, maintain normal bilateral economic and trade exchanges, and safeguard the stability of the global supply chain of important industrial chains such as chips.

The Biden administration announced in October a set of export controls to ban Chinese companies from purchases of advanced chips and chip-making equipment without a license, which was deemed as a major threat to Beijing’s technological ambitions as the global semiconductor industry is heavily dependent on the U.S. and its allies.

Japan and the Netherlands is likely to announce adoption at least some of measures that the U.S. unveiled in October, join the U.S. in tightening export controls to China, a Bloomberg report later Monday cited people familiar with the matter. Alliance of the three countries suggests a blockade that leaves no access for China to buy equipments necessary to make cutting-edging chips, the report said. While American semiconductor manufacturers such as Nvidia, Applied Materials and Lam Research are subject to the restrictions rolled out in October, Japan’s Tokyo Electron Ltd. and Dutch lithography giant ASML Holding NV are the two other critical suppliers for the U.S. to make its sanctions effective.