The US on Friday announced that it has imposed export controls on 77 Chinese companies including the country’s biggest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯國際), restricting its access to US technology over its alleged ties to China’s military.
The announcement in the final weeks of US President Donald Trump’s term comes after relations between Washington and Beijing soured under his administration, which saw the US start a trade dispute with China and expand its list of sanctioned entities to a few hundred Chinese companies and subsidiaries.
In a statement, US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said the designations, which restrict US companies’ ability to do business with the firms, are over an array of charges including human rights abuses, the activities of the Chinese military, particularly in the South China Sea, as well as theft of US technology.
Photo: Bloomberg
“China’s corrupt and bullying behavior both inside and outside its borders harms US national security interests, undermines the sovereignty of our allies and partners, and violates the human rights and dignity of ethnic and religious minority groups,” Ross said. “Commerce will act to ensure that America’s technology — developed and produced according to open and free-market principles — is not used for malign or abusive purposes.”
SMIC has received billions of dollars in support from Beijing and is at the heart of its efforts to improve the country’s technological self-sufficiency.
In a call with reporters, a senior Commerce Department official said that Washington has evidence that SMIC has worked with the Chinese military on developing short and medium-range ballistic missiles and exoskeletons for soldiers, but had been in talks with SMIC for months on a way to avoid the designation.
“We’re adding SMIC to the entity list mostly because we need to make sure US intellectual property and manufacturing capabilities are not being used by SMIC’s clients to continue to support the military-civil fusions efforts within China,” the official said. “We simply no longer could stand by and watch our adversary using our technologies to support its military capabilities.”
Beijing yesterday accused the US of “bullying.”
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that it “firmly opposes” the move and vowed to “take necessary measures” to safeguard Chinese companies’ rights.
The ministry accused the US of “abusing export controls and other measures to continuously suppress” foreign entities, and urged Washington to “stop unilateralism and bullying.”
The designation means US companies must apply for a license before exporting to SMIC, and specifically targets the Chinese firm’s ability to acquire materials for producing chips of 10 nanometers or smaller, the best class in the industry.
Also targeted was drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology Co (大疆創新), “because of its complicity in human rights violations within China,” the official said.
That company holds about 70 percent of the global drone market, and the US Department of the Interior last year grounded its fleet of the company’s drones amid rising security concerns over Chinese electronics.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source