Computer Chip Ban Key Issue In Biden-Xi Meet

The Biden administration’s move to block exports of advanced computer chips to China is signaling a new phase in relations between the globe’s two largest economies — one in which trade matters less than an increasingly heated competition to be the world’s leading technological and military power, Josh Boak reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: The scheduled meeting is evidence of Biden’s determination to “manage” US rivalry with China, whose officials were quick to condemn the export ban.

The move, announced last month, will help set the tone for President Joe Biden’s upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday at the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Asia.

It’s evidence of Biden’s determination to “manage” US rivalry with China, whose officials were quick to condemn the export ban. After more than two decades in which the focus was on the expansion of trade and global growth, both countries are prioritizing their national interests as the world economy struggles with high inflation and recessions.

The US and China have each identified the development and production of computer chips as vital for their growth and security interests.

“We’re going to do whatever it takes to protect Americans from the threat of China,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in an interview. “China is crystal clear. They will use this technology for surveillance. They will use this technology for cyberattacks. They will use this technology to, in any number of ways, harm us and our allies, or our ability to protect ourselves.”

Xi responded to the export ban in his statement at last month’s congress of the Chinese Communist Party, where he secured a third term as the country’s leader. He pledged that China would move more aggressively to become self-reliant in producing semiconductors and other technologies.

The US had until recently believed that strong trade relationships would bring countries closer together in ways that made the world safer and wealthier under a post-Cold War order.

Global supply chains were supposed to lower costs, boost profits and enable democratic values to seep into the terrain of oligarchies, dictatorships, and autocracies.

But after a global pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and China’s own ambitions, the Biden administration, and many European and Asian allies have chosen to prioritize national security and industrial strategies.

Both the US and European Union (EU) have provided tens of billions of dollars in incentives to spur more domestic production of computer chips.

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