The US is in discussions with Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea to restrict semiconductor exports to China, and it needs all parties to agree on a deal, US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said in an interview.
Stressing the importance of South Korean and Dutch cooperation alongside Japan, he spoke by telephone ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s summit with US President Joe Biden on Friday.
The two allies would endorse a joint statement covering a wide range of security issues, but work is continuing on a chip industry restriction deal, he said.
Photo: REUTERS
“You’ve got to work through not just Japan, but you’ve got to work through obviously Korea, you’ve got to work through the Dutch,” Emanuel said. “It’s going to take a lot of work.”
South Korea is home to two of the world’s leading memory chipmakers, Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc, while the Netherlands has ASML Holding NV, maker of the world’s most advanced chip lithography systems.
Japan, whose businesses provide essential machinery and materials for chip fabricators, also plays a critical role in the industry’s supply chain. Washington hopes to align all three nations in pursuing its stricter measures on China exports.
“All the parties are at the table, all the parties have a mutual shared interest in the outcome. Everybody has different aspects of the industry,” Emanuel said.
The deal being sought “will not be just bilateral,” he said. “It must be multilateral.”
The South Korean government is not in discussions with the US about its participation in US restrictions on exports to China, a spokesman at the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.
The US rolled out sweeping measures in October last year to limit the sale of advanced semiconductors and chipmaking equipment to China, which the Biden administration said aim to limit the Chinese military’s access to and development of advanced tech.
Beijing has challenged the move at the WTO, and said the restrictions threaten the stability of the global supply chain.
Taiwan has formally requested to join the WTO negotiations, as it wants to understand how global semiconductors could be affected, the Office of Trade Negotiations said in a statement on Friday.
Japan and the Netherlands have agreed in principle to join the US in tightening controls, Bloomberg reported last month.
Adding South Korea would be a debilitating blow to Chinese industry, and Beijing has sought to improve ties with its neighbor amid concerns over Washington’s plans.
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