Economic Warfare against China

The Economic Warfare against China

The leadership of both Democratic and Republican parties have decided that China is a menace. This is not because China really threatens the US militarily; it is because the leaders feel that China is gaining on the US economically, and eventually can become a military threat.

The US has decided to use its technological superiority and influence on the world economy to deny technology to China. One example is choking off China’s access to advanced chips and chip production tools. To do this effectively the US must get the cooperation of its technologically advanced allies: Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Israel, UK. But apparently Netherlands and Japan have demurred, so the US announced this new policy unilaterally. The trigger was a July report that China has produced a semiconductor that rivals complex chips made in Taiwan.

At the same time the US is going to block the sale of Chinese telecommunications equipment from Huawei and ZTE in the US, considering that these companies “could leak sensitive data to Beijing.” The US is also giving careful scrutiny to Tik-Tok, a popular Chinese-owned social media site.

So, the economic war with China is on: we must be wary of it and oppose aggressive US moves against China.

(Source: The New York Times, 10/14/22)