By Gabby Chen

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the US’s abuse of export control measures has hindered normal international trade of chips and other products. It distorts the global supply chain of semiconductors and disrupts global trade. He made his comment on China’s filing of WTO case against the US on December 13.

Wang said that the US has been using national security in recent years as a pretext to disrupt normal international trade, which is widely rejected by the international community. The WTO recently took the view that the tariffs selectively imposed by the US in 2018 in the name of national security on steel and aluminum from some WTO members have violated WTO rules, and rejected the US’s defense invoking the WTO security exceptions. It shows that the security exceptions do not provide a safe haven for unilateral or protectionist practices, he added.

Countries need to stand up and say no to Washington’s unilateralism and protectionism. This is a cause that bears on the stability of the global trading system, and more importantly, whether international justice can prevail, Wang said.

China’s Commerce Ministry has already responded to the issue on December 12, and the related report -China files WTO lawsuit against US chip export control.