China’s government will retaliate if the Biden administration imposes new limits on technology and capital that can flow to the nation, Beijing’s envoy in Washington said.
Xie Feng, the nation’s new ambassador to the US, said that while China doesn’t want a trade or technology war, its leaders won’t sit on their hands in the face of US actions such as a planned screening mechanism for investment in key Chinese industries. He didn’t detail what actions China would take.
“The Chinese government cannot simply sit idly by,” Xie said at the Aspen Security Forum on Wednesday. “There’s a Chinese saying: ‘We will not make provocations, but we will not flinch from provocations.’ So China definitely will make our response.”
US officials are seeking to wrap up a proposal by the end of August for a long-delayed program to screen and possibly prohibit investment in China’s semiconductor, quantum-computing and artificial intelligence sectors, according to people familiar with the plans. Xie’s comments indicate Beijing may not have been assuaged by assurances from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who told Bloomberg Television this week that the restrictions would be “narrowly targeted.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jeanne-Pierre told reporters Wednesday that the Biden administration is working on an executive order on investment in “sensitive technology, particularly for transactions in critical sectors that could undermine America’s national security.” But she said “it’s a complicated process, as I’m sure you understand, and so we want to make sure that we get this right, and it takes some time.”
Read more: US Plans Narrow China Tech Investment Limits, Likely by 2024
Xie also decried existing US measures such as the inclusion of hundreds of Chinese companies on the Entity List, which prevents them from receiving key US technology exports without the producer obtaining a license.
Xie, who arrived in his post in May, criticized US semiconductor controls as handicapping China and creating an unfair competition.
“This is like restricting the other side to wear outdated swimwear in a swimming contest, while you yourself are wearing a Speedo,” he said. “So this is not fair.”
--With assistance from Ryan Teague Beckwith.