Last month, the government confirmed that it had imposed further restrictions on chip machine maker ASML when exporting high-quality equipment to China. Japan recently announced that a number of the country’s chip companies must first apply for a license to sell advanced products overseas, which also amounts to a restriction on exports to China.
The announcements came after a meeting of Dutch, Japanese and US government representatives in Washington in January where the countries agreed not to simply sell certain technologies to China, according to Bloomberg news agency sources.
“Technological Supremacy”
According to China, these agreements “affect the WTO’s principles of justice and transparency,” state broadcaster CCTV said, accusing the United States of pursuing “technological supremacy” and calling on the Netherlands not to comply.
President Joe Biden’s government has already taken steps in the fall of 2022 to prevent China from developing more modern semiconductors. This would be necessary for national and international security because these high-quality chips can also be used for military purposes. China says such security concerns are unfounded.