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PARIS – If there is one area of continuity in U.S. foreign policy, it is the determination to prevent China from competing with the United States in technology. From Donald Trump’s first term to Joe Biden’s presidency — and undoubtedly in Trump’s coming second term — Washington has been doing everything in its power to clip Beijing’s technological wings.
The Biden administration made one of its final major decisions Monday by imposing a new wave of sanctions on China. The goal is to deny Beijing access to the technology needed to produce semiconductors essential for Artificial Intelligence — a dual-use technology that can also be applied in weaponry.
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This is the fourth round of sanctions against Beijing since Joe Biden took office, accompanied by the addition of 140 Chinese companies to the “blacklist,” barring them from accessing the U.S. market. It marks one of the harshest blows to China’s tech sector, which has been targeted by successive administrations for six years. The only criticism heard in Washington is that these measures don’t go far enough!
Advances in AI have become a major strategic issue in both civilian and military sectors. Yet China is facing a significant lag in producing high-end semiconductors — the very ones critical for AI. This is particularly frustrating for Beijing, as Taiwan, the island it claims as Chinese territory, holds an almost exclusive monopoly on these “chips.”
Even more frustrating for Beijing, U.S. sanctions also apply to companies from U.S. allies, barring them from trading with China. This includes Taiwan’s semiconductor giant TSMC and ASML, the Dutch high-tech company that manufactures chip-producing machines.
Closing tech gaps
The United States argues that it ensures the security of both Taiwan and the Netherlands, and that companies from these nations must comply with the security requirements set by Washington.
China is investing tens of billions of dollars to try to close its technological gap, and is also attempting to bypass the sanctions. It was recently reported that two individuals were charged on Friday in Paris as part of an investigation into the delivery of industrial secrets related to semiconductors to China and Russia.
Can China catch up?
Can China catch up on its technological delay? It is doing everything it can to achieve this. Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei has provided an example by unveiling its latest smartphone: deprived of Western chips, it has developed national technologies in an autonomous environment. Until now, there were Apple smartphones and those running on Android; now, there is a third operating system, Huawei’s.
Rise of the Splinternet
The new approach of Huawei is the latest example of what is called the “Splinternet,” which refers to the growing divergence between Western technological systems, dominated by the United States, and those of China.
The initial dream of a borderless technology is evaporating under the impact of the new Cold War.
Donald Trump will certainly continue to build on this foundation. He sent another aggressive signal Monday towards Beijing, warning countries tempted to bypass the U.S. dollar that they would face 100% tariffs. The primary target is, of course, China, the only subject of consensus — if not obsession — in Washington.
