Washington [US], December 26: With less than a month left until the end of his term, US President Joe Biden has continued to "strike" to suppress China, which is considered to be "paving the way" for his successor Donald Trump.
The Biden administration has announced a long-term trade investigation into older semiconductors made in China , a group of low-end components used in a wide range of goods from cars to washing machines to telecommunications equipment.
New turning point in US-China competition
Older-generation semiconductor chips used processes that were more than a decade old and were often much simpler than the chips used in today's advanced microprocessors or artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Washington has long imposed sanctions on Beijing's technology sector, especially the semiconductor industry. But this time, the investigation is focusing on older-generation semiconductor chips. On December 23, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo cited a State Department study showing that two-thirds of the country's products use older-generation American semiconductor chips. And 50% of US businesses, including some in the defense sector, do not fully understand the origin of the older-generation semiconductor components they use. Therefore, this situation is considered "alarming".
In response, a representative of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said the investigation was aimed at "protectionism" and would hurt US companies and disrupt the global chip supply chain.
Responding to Thanh Nien on December 25, Dr. Satoru Nagao (Hudson Institute, USA) assessed that President Biden's above-mentioned move has many meanings.
"First, this is another step in escalating the competition between the US and China. Steps to increase sanctions require time to investigate. In the current era, many products use old-generation semiconductor components. Even the companies that manufacture these products find it difficult to determine where all the components and materials are sourced. Therefore, to ensure economic security, a long-term investigation is required," Dr. Nagao analyzed.
Because of the time it takes, investigations have so far focused on advanced, high-end semiconductors. "China's latest weapons systems rely on such advanced semiconductors," Nagao said, explaining why Washington has so far focused on Beijing's advanced semiconductors.
"However, since Russia launched its military campaign against Ukraine, non-advanced semiconductor components, that is, low-end and old-generation semiconductor components, have become a matter of concern. There is information that Russia has increased its imports of civilian machinery and taken semiconductor components from this source to serve the defense industry. In fact, from low-end semiconductor components, it is also possible to produce large quantities of weapons," Dr. Nagao further analyzed.
The White House is about to change hands from Joe Biden to Donald Trump, but Dr. Nagao assessed: "US sanctions against China will continue." Not only Mr. Nagao, observers also said that this long-term investigation could in the future become the basis for Mr. Trump to increase sanctions on Beijing in the technology sector in the trade war between the two sides.
"Worrying" for Taiwan
Also in the final days of his term, the Biden administration on December 20 announced a $571.3 million military aid package and a $295 million arms order for Taiwan. However, neither Washington nor Taipei has announced details of the military aid package and arms order.
In response, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of China said on December 22 that China firmly opposes the US providing weapons to Taiwan in any form.
Also related to weapons provided by Washington to Taipei, on December 16, an order of 38 M1A2T main battle tanks arrived at a Taiwanese port and were transferred to an armored training center on the island. These tanks marked the first time in 23 years that Taipei received tanks provided by Washington. This is the first batch of an order of 108 M1A2T tanks that the US agreed to provide to Taiwan in 2019. As a variant of the M1 Abrams line, the M1A2T tanks are expected to allow Taiwan to enhance its defense capabilities against amphibious attacks.
Accelerating military aid and weapons packagesfor Taiwan is considered a move by the Biden administration to strengthen Taipei's military capabilities, in the context that the incoming Trump administration is expected to have many considerations regarding the issue of support for Taiwan.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
