‘Bullying’ China spurs US to limit advanced tech exports: American ambassador

Beijing’s increasingly hardline policies are convincing more countries to boost strategic relations with Washington, says Nicholas Burns

Reading Time:4 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

99+

Nicholas Burns, a career diplomat, has been the US ambassador to China since 2022. Photo: Bloomberg

Mark Magnierin New York

Published: 4:22am, 7 Jun 2024Updated: 11:02pm, 7 Jun 2024

US restrictions on advanced technology exports to China are driven by greater evidence of Beijing’s increasingly “aggressive” stance and an analysis of how it would likely use these tools as it “bullies” some neighbours, a senior US diplomat said on Thursday.

“We have to expect those technologies will be militarised, and we do not intend to be number two,” said Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, in remarks delivered at the Asia Society in New York.

Washington’s response to Beijing has included limits on advanced semiconductors, artificial-intelligence processors, semiconductor-making equipment and even some laptops.

After vowing to review steep import tariffs and export restrictions introduced by former US president Donald Trump and precipitating a bilateral trade war, the Joe Biden administration has doubled down on such measures.

US-China trade war heats up with fresh tariffs

As justification for Washington’s analysis, Burns cited Beijing’s island-building in the South China Sea as well as its territorial squabbles with Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Malaysia and Brunei.