China Says US 'Abusing' Export Controls With Reported Agreement on Chips

The U.S. has been “abusing export controls” and “politicizing tech and trade issues and using them as a tool and weapon” to “hold on to its hegemony and serve its selfish agenda,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in response to a question about a reported agreement on chip controls between the U.S., the Netherlands and Japan (see 2301270002). “China is firmly against this,” she said at a regularly scheduled press conference Jan. 30. “Such practices serve no one’s interests. They destabilize global industrial and supply chains and have given rise to global concerns.”

Details remained scant days after the agreement was reported. Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said last week that the details may stay hidden from public view, according to a report from Reuters. “Those talks have been going on for a long time and we're not saying anything about it. It's really in doubt that if something comes out of them, that it will be very visible. We'll have to see.”