China calls US chip controls ‘bullying,’ violation of international law

Investing.com-- China’s ministry of commerce on Wednesday accused the U.S. of abusing export controls and using them to suppress China, after Washington issued new restrictions on advanced Chinese computing chips. 

“The U.S. measures are typical unilateral bullying and protectionist practices, which seriously damage the stability of the global semiconductor industry chain supply chain,” a translation of the commerce ministry statement said. 

“The U.S. has abused export controls and curbed and suppressed China, violated international law and basic norms governing international relations,” the commerce ministry said. 

The statement was in response to recent guidance from the U.S. Department of Commerce that using Huawei Ascend chips anywhere in the world violated U.S. export controls. 

While the U.S. has been blocking the flow of advanced AI chips to China for the past two years, the latest guidance from the commerce department represents an effort to stem the circulation of China-made chips. Huawei is already blacklisted by the U.S. government. 

China had earlier this week warned that U.S. chip controls threatened to undermine a recent trade truce between the two countries.