It appears the Biden administration will continue to contain China’s tech and artificial intelligence progress, despite the recent between President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden.
US Says Its a Matter of National Security
Last month, the US government announced a series of new export controls aimed at curbing China’s access to advanced semiconductor technology. The measures were deemed necessary for national security, with the US arguing that China could leverage its growing artificial intelligence and technological capabilities for military applications.
During the Biden-Xi meeting, both leaders reached an agreement on certain matters, such as cracking down on fentanyl exports and resuming military communication channels. However, there wasn’t much progress in getting the US government to soften its export controls of semiconductors to China.
“The two leaders were at fundamental odds on that issue: What Mr Xi sees as economic strangulation, Mr Biden sees as an issue of national security,” says New York Times journalist David Sanger.
From the look of things, it’s apparent that the US government holds still on its stance towards national security and is likely not to back down from the restrictive measures against China’s AI and tech ecosystem.
Prior to the meeting, a bipartisan Congressional commission formed to monitor the national security implications of the US-China economic relationship asked Congress to permit an annual assessment of how well export controls are working and to what extent the United States allies are cooperating in containing China’s access to semiconductors.
Stifling Tech Progress Hurts China The More
The situation bites harder on China, whose development is largely dependent on technological innovations. “[…] Stifling China’s technological progress is nothing but a move to contain China’s high-quality development and deprive the Chinese people of their right to development,” Chinese official media stated.
The long-term impact of US new export controls on China is a subject of much speculation. However, it’s not far-fetched that these measures have the potential to significantly disrupt the global semiconductor supply chain. Some experts had criticised the move, saying it could damage the global semiconductor industry and ultimately hurt the US economy.
