China warns that it may "react" to "hegemonic" treatment by the U.S. in 'Chip War'

China and the US chess board
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Tan Jian, the Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands, addressed the escalating tensions between China and the United States over advanced chip fabrication technologies in a recent interview with NRC, a Dutch newspaper. He stated that China might react to the United States' attempts to cut the country off from advanced chipmaking tools, but hoped this would not affect China's relationship with the European Union. China is upset that the U.S. has managed to persuade the government of the Netherlands to curb shipments of advanced ASML lithography tools to China.

"If the Americans treat us in a hegemonic way, we will of course react, but our relationship with the EU should not be affected," said Tan Jian.

Tan Jian's comments come in the wake of the U.S. efforts to limit China's access to advanced processors used for AI and HPC applications -- part of an on-going power struggle frequently called a chip war -- as well as sophisticated chip production technology, citing national security risks. China sees this as part of a broader strategy to curb its technological and economic growth. 

"The U.S. has stretched their idea of security far too far, including to things that have nothing to do with military risks," said the ambassador. "And they put pressure on their allies to do the same. The US often accuses us of threatening diplomacy, but this is only threatening. We recognize that many European countries have close ties with the US, but Europe is Europe, a major player in the world."

Earlier this month, ASML announced the cancellation of shipments of some of its machines to China. The decision followed the Dutch government's partial revocation of export licenses for the company's most advanced deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography tools that can be used to make chips on 7nm, 5nm, and more advanced process technologies. The move is believed to be influenced by the U.S. administration. 

 John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House, has clarified the U.S.'s stance on this issue. Kirby stated that the U.S. aims to 'de-risk, not de-couple' from China, focusing on national security. He emphasized that these decisions regarding export licenses are designed to protect U.S. interests, and that companies like ASML make their own choices within this framework, as reported today in DigiTimes

 "Our decisions in terms of these export licenses is really designed specifically to make sure that we can continue to protect U.S. national security," said Kirby.

Tan Jian mentioned the need for enhanced dialogue with the Dutch government to prevent further escalation of the situation. He also highlighted the increasing difficulties faced by Chinese companies in the European Union, citing controls, political pressure, and the spread of misinformation. Moreover, he critiqued the European Union's policy towards China as confusing, noting the EU's controversial view of China as a partner and as a rival.

"In general, Chinese companies let us know that it has become more difficult to operate in the European Union," added the ambassador in the NRC interview. "They have faced more controls, political pressure and all kinds of disinformation about Chinese intentions. European China policy is confusing. In that policy, China is called a cooperation partner, economic competitor and systemic rival."

Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

  • Geef
    With Chip War stuff I just thought of something the might be important.
    China is big. 1.4 billion people? It is probably hard to keep that many people and companies all playing by the rules all the time. Several companies go and do bad things like taking IP and such and the US needs to impose sanctions to all of China, not just that company.

    My opinion is since China is lax in their cares for IP rights, China needs to get more regulators for their companies so they play by the rules or at least don't go far enough to warrant US action. Thereby removing sanctions for the rest of the country. They got 1.3999 billion other people who might be able to fill those roles! (y)
    Reply
  • ThomasKinsley
    Geef said:
    With Chip War stuff I just thought of something the might be important.
    China is big. 1.4 billion people? It is probably hard to keep that many people and companies all playing by the rules all the time. Several companies go and do bad things like taking IP and such and the US needs to impose sanctions to all of China, not just that company.

    My opinion is since China is lax in their cares for IP rights, China needs to get more regulators for their companies so they play by the rules or at least don't go far enough to warrant US action. Thereby removing sanctions for the rest of the country. They got 1.3999 billion other people who might be able to fill those roles! (y)
    That presumes the US is sanctioning all of China because of a few bad companies when it's really because technology is the primary competitive advantage of the US military. Should China reach parity in tech with the West, then the West's advantage is negated, leaving everything on the table. Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, the Middle East, and more.
    Reply
  • DavidMV
    This means the US actions actually are working despite what the Chinese media tries to push. Good!!!
    Reply
  • Geef
    The military advantage stuff has always and will always be there with technology. China will be behind the US for a while with tech, but as long as their regulators get them to do it right they won't be 'as far' behind. Every bit counts with AI tech.

    My opinion is: The world will fall apart because of AI as soon as there is an AI hologram woman like in the movie 'The 6th Day' It will of course fall apart with 50% of the population smiling though. - look it up, short clip will make you laugh. :ROFLMAO:
    Reply
  • parkerthon
    Admin said:
    China's ambassador in the Netherlands calls for enhanced dialogue between China and the European Union.

    China warns that it may "react" to "hegemonic" treatment by the U.S. in 'Chip War : Read more
    The hegemony they complain about is true, but it's a democratic "western" one and not an authoritarian led hegemony which is what, for example, an emerging counter hegemony such as BRICS would likely tolerate/impose. China has many legitimate complaints, but the point as to why the US is withholding cutting edge tech for AI development still stands. AI has the potential to be extremely powerful not just for military uses and authoritarian governments can do whatever they like without any real accountability. We've seen this already with the Chinese surveillance state. There's no way a country that favors a democratic approach would let an ideologically opposing country, using cutting edge technology sourced from its democratically fostered companies, gain an insurmountable lead in AI. Also China would attempt to steal the IP whether we gave it to them willingly or not. Whether that's intentional or not doesn't matter. It's what happens. If they want to trade high tech, they have to show they're trustworthy partners. We're a long way from reaching that point diplomatically and the gulf widens every day. Hopefully they don't do something desperate like invade Taiwan. I think that's the biggest threat here for sure.
    Reply
  • maestro0428
    Hmmm. China has been stealing our technology for decades. Maybe they will start coming up with their own tech to compete with? Maybe they will keep their advanced manufacturing from US companies...
    Reply
  • peachpuff
    Lets hope they don't anything drastic like japan did back in the day... oh who am i kidding, china has no experience here.
    Reply
  • purpleduggy
    DavidMV said:
    This means the US actions actually are working despite what the Chinese media tries to push. Good!!!
    except the end result will be counter-intuitive and develop chinese fabs. tell me good again in about 10 years. selling lithography machines and gpus to china keeps them dependent. this forces them to become independent. if the US was serious about this, they would outmatch the $200 Billion USD Chinese chip investments and not $50 drop in a bucket US ASML investments. The US should be putting Trillions into US chip fabs. Cutting edge is the only way to stay ahead, not by limiting others.
    Reply
  • peachpuff
    purpleduggy said:
    except the end result will be counter-intuitive and develop chinese fabs. tell me good again in about 10 years. selling lithography machines and gpus to china keeps them dependent. this forces them to become independent.
    That's the point of sanctions, it doesn't stop them, just delays their progress.
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    chinese market its gone :)
    will treat with what? printing money?
    Reply