The United States is pressuring South Korea to join a “Chip 4” alliance consisting of South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the United States. The intent is to control the world’s main semiconductor supply chains, to isolate China.
But China (including the Hong Kong SAR) accounts for nearly 60% of South Korean chip exports. And bilateral trade between the two countries increased 27% from 2020 to 2021, to more than $360 billion, which is nearly as great as South Korea’s trade with Japan, Europe, and the United States combined. Acceding to the demand to cut off China from its high-tech exports would be economically suicidal.
