China's high-tech advancement cannot be checked

The Joe Biden administration raised its semiconductor export control to the level of high-tech trade blockade on Oct 7 last year. One year on, it's time to ask whether the move has worked as the administration expected it to.

Unlike what Washington expected from it, the "high-tech trade war" has gradually deviated from its preset track and is messing up the global industry and supply chains, with its expected "victory" nowhere in sight.

To turn the situation in its favor, the US has further intensified its high-tech campaign against China, from blocking specific enterprises to tightening technology investment control, from banning technology exchanges to blocking the flow of science and technology talents and forming a three-dimensional suppression system to contain China's rise.

In an attempt to stifle China's high-tech sectors, the US administration now doesn't even hesitate to use its long-arm jurisdiction, forming a so-called chip alliance and using intelligence agencies to target Chinese high-tech companies and Chinese science and technology talents.

However, these moves have hurt US entities and US allies, too. Most semiconductor manufacturing giants based in the US, Japan and the Republic of Korea have reported lower revenues simply because they cannot find a large enough market to replace China after Washington forced them to suspend their normal deals with the world's second-largest economy.

Yet, thanks to the US' vicious targeting of China's high-tech sector, China now knows which fields in the high-tech sector it should focus on to seek breakthroughs, in order to become self-reliant in high-tech, especially advanced semiconductors.

Paradoxically, the US' move has helped accelerate China's research and development in high-tech, which is crucial for safeguarding national security. The US' trade bullying has apparently made Chinese policymakers and decision-makers realize that as long as China relies on exports for the smooth functioning of its core technologies and equipment sectors, it will continue to face high external risks and uncertainties.

As some observers have said, the US cannot contain China's development by controlling high-tech exports. At best, it can delay China's progress. China's journey to become self-reliant in high-tech is unstoppable.