China has attempted to dissuade Japan from imposing big curbs on exports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, as part of a fast-evolving geopolitical battle over access to the world’s most advanced chips. The move by Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang came during a visit to Beijing by his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi — the first such trip to China’s capital by a top Japanese diplomat in more than three years.
Qin told Hayashi that the US had in the past tried to “brutally suppress” Japan’s semiconductor industry and was now “repeating its old tricks” against China.
“Don’t do to others what you don’t want others to do to you,” Qin said according to a statement published on China’s foreign ministry website on Sunday. The “blockade” would “only stimulate China’s determination to become self-sufficient”, he added.