A legislator in South Korea has strongly criticized Washington’s interventions in the global semiconductor industry, in a sign of dissent over US efforts to corral Asian allies into its growing anti-China agenda.
Yang Hyang-ja, a former chip engineer and Samsung executive, who chaired a recent committee on South Korea’s semiconductor competitiveness, said in an interview with the Financial Times that the US measures will be far more damaging to South Korea and the world than to China.
“If [Washington] continues to try to punish other nations and to pass bills and implement ‘America First’ policies in an unpredictable manner, other countries could form an alliance against the US,” Yang said. “The US is the strongest nation in the world,” she added. “It should consider more of humanity’s common values. Appearing to use its strength as a weapon is not desirable.”
Yang, a former Democratic Party member who formed her own party, Hope of Korea, in June, acknowledged that “US tech war measures are not harming our semiconductor industry yet, because sanctions against China could actually reduce output, leading to higher prices.”
