In a many-thousand-word anti-China piece on Jan. 5, British Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) senior fellow and Washington Post opinion-monger Sebastian Mallaby gave a precise description — which many have not seen — of the intended blunt-force economic war of the Biden Administration on China. It has the same intention to destroy, as announced against Russia on Jan. 25, 2022 by unnamed “senior administration officials” who said the White House’s intention was to prevent Russia from diversifying or developing its economy.
Mallaby says, “The plan that Biden’s strategists have chosen is shocking in its boldness. At its heart is the embargo on semiconductor exports announced in October and extended in December.… Biden has blacklisted large chunks of Chinese industry.
“The administration’s semiconductor export ban operates on four levels. First, it prohibits the sale to China of both advanced semiconductors made in the United States and advanced chips made in other countries with the help of U.S. inputs. Chips are at the core of modern economies, with the most advanced ones being used in everything from sophisticated communications equipment to artificial intelligence. Because most chip makers around the world rely on U.S. software or other U.S. technology, they dare not ignore the ban. China will therefore lose access to nearly all foreign suppliers.
“Next, the Biden team has targeted China’s ability to produce its own semiconductors. This builds on a precedent from 2018, when the Trump administration successfully lobbied the Netherlands to prevent the Dutch firm ASML, the leader in semiconductor lithography, from selling its most advanced gear to China. The Biden administration now aims to widen the net. U.S.-based suppliers of chipmaking equipment will be banned from selling to China. Foreign ones are under pressure to follow.
