Ten Republican lawmakers jointly sent a letter dated Thursday to Alan Estevez, undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, exerting pressure and presenting seven demands. These demands include the establishment of a new agency dedicated to controlling the export of American technology to China, imposing “full blocking sanctions” on both Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) and Huawei, and placing all their subsidiary companies on the Entity List. Their attitude is extremely arrogant, even going so far as to demand criminal charges against executives of SMIC and Huawei.
There are several possibilities going forward. The first is that these legislators fail, and their demands are not accepted by the US government. These legislators have always been the most radical anti-China force in the US.
The second is that the US government, following these lawmakers, goes crazy, leading to further failure for the US. Previous rounds of sanctions against Huawei were already very harsh, causing Huawei to withdraw from the 5G smartphone business. SMIC has also long been on the US Department of Commerce’s Entity List, being a key target of restrictions for US and its allies. Now, how the Kirin 9000S chip used in the Huawei Mate 60 Pro is produced has not been disclosed by Huawei. However, a significant fact is that Huawei has pierced through the network of US sanctions.
In the era of globalization, it is impossible for blockade wall to be completely airtight. Huawei has strong research and development capabilities, and Chinese companies have already formed a solid national industrial foundation, which can support their ability to independently develop key technologies. When these two factors are combined, the US cannot hinder Huawei’s development simply by building a taller and larger blockade wall. Since Huawei has openly released the Mate 60 Pro, there must be a backup plan. If the US builds a new blockade wall, the first to be actually sanctioned will be American and its allies’ companies. Huawei will definitely be able to withstand it. Today’s Huawei is even stronger than it was in 2019. It couldn’t be defeated four years ago, and now and in the future, there is no way to suffocate it.
Thirdly, if the US brings criminal charges against SMIC and Huawei executives, it will signify a new confrontation. This is not an area where the US can unilaterally act without facing any consequences. The US will not gain any additional advantage from this, so they better abandon this idea.
Extreme American politicians need to understand that the Chinese people are much more intelligent than they imagine and possess a collective will to never surrender. The more they try to block and pressure, the more they will stimulate creativity in Chinese society. Decoupling and severing supply chain will cause losses for both China and the US, but the US is persisting in the wrong way while China is creating in the right way. Therefore, the US is bound to suffer more loss.
(Global Times)
