US sanctions 7 Chinese supercomputing entities
DHARAMSALA, 9 April: The US has announced sanctions against “seven Chinese supercomputing entities” for “conducting activities that are contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the US.”
Tianjin Phytium Information Technology, Shanghai High-Performance Integrated Circuit Design Center, Sunway Microelectronics, the National Supercomputing Center Jinan, the National Supercomputing Center Shenzhen, the National Supercomputing Center Wuxi, and the National Supercomputing Center Zhengzhou were added to the economic blacklist by the US Commerce Department on Thursday.
The seven Chinese supercomputing entities the Department said were “involved with building supercomputers used by China’s military actors, its destabilizing military modernization efforts, and/or weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.”
US Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo has stated that “supercomputing capabilities are vital for the development of many – perhaps almost all – modern weapons and national security systems, such as nuclear weapons and hypersonic weapons.”
“The Department of Commerce will use the full extent of its authorities to prevent China from leveraging U.S. technologies to support these destabilizing military modernization efforts,” she added.
The Secretary has further said that the Chinese supercomputing “entities meet the criteria for inclusion on the Entity List listed under Section 744.11 of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).”
This is the Biden administration’s second sanctions against China.
On 17 March, the US announced sanctions against 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials “under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act in response to the PRC further undermining the autonomy, rights, and freedoms promised to people in Hong Kong.”
According to a report on AP, “the measure is the latest sign President Joe Biden is sticking to the tough line taken by his predecessor, Donald Trump, toward Chinese tech industries seen by Washington as potential threats.”
“Biden has said he wants better relations with Beijing but has given no indication he will roll back sanctions imposed by Trump on Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei and other companies.”
The 46th President of the US, Joe Biden took charge of the office on 20 Jan. 2021 when the US-China relationship was at its lowest with the two countries at loggerheads on many fronts besides the ongoing trade war, China originated COVID-19 pandemic as well as China’s Human rights violations among others.
