意外的貿易休戰後，中美兩國再次陷入爭執 (1/2)

 Recently Yahoo News on-line picked up the following:

US and China are already feuding again after unexpected trade truce (1/2)

Nectar Gan, CNN

Tue, May 20, 2025 at 11:23 p.m. PDT·6 min read

Just days after the United States and China declared a temporary truce over tariffs, tempers are already flaring: this time over the future of Beijing’s most advanced homegrown semiconductors.

Over the past week, Beijing has repeatedly lashed out at Washington for warning companies against using AI chips made by national tech champion Huawei. It has even accused the Trump administration of “undermining” a consensus reached at recent trade talks in Geneva, where both sides agreed to temporarily roll back tariffs and use a 90-day window to hash out a broader deal.

The conflict over Huawei’s most advanced chips serves as a reality check that despite the positive words shared by US and Chinese negotiators last week, there are still sharp differences between the two sides on a variety of subjects that may be difficult to bridge.

On Wednesday, China’s Commerce Ministry fired its latest broadside, accusing the US of “abusing export controls to suppress and contain China” and engaging in what it called “typical acts of unilateral bullying and protectionism.”

China was responding to the Trump administration’s announcement last week rescinding a set of Biden-era curbs meant to keep AI chips out of the hands of foreign adversaries.

As part of that announcement, the US Commerce Department issued guidance on May 12 warning companies that “using Huawei Ascend chips anywhere in the world would violate US export controls.” The department has since changed its wording to remove the reference of “anywhere in the world” in an updated version of the statement.

The Ascend chips are Huawei’s most powerful AI processors, which are used to train AI models and aim to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in designing high-end chips. Huawei’s efforts are central to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s plans to build up China’s own capacity to develop cutting-edge chips as it vies for AI supremacy with the US.

At a top political meeting last month, Xi called for “self-reliance” to develop AI in China, saying his country would leverage its “new whole national system” to target bottlenecks such as advanced chips.

CNN has reached out to Huawei for comment.

Beijing’s ire

On Monday, Beijing signaled the US Commerce Department’s wording change in the updated statement on Huawei wasn’t enough to end the feud. In a statement, China’s Commerce Ministry said that despite the “adjustment” in wording, the “discriminatory measures and market-distorting nature” of the guidance itself remained unchanged.

“China has engaged in negotiations and communications with the US at various levels through the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism, pointing out that the US actions seriously undermined the consensus reached during the high-level talks in Geneva,” the ministry said, urging the US to “correct its mistake.”

The ministry’s latest statement on Wednesday came with an extra warning from Beijing to global businesses, threatening legal action against anyone who helps what it calls a US attempt to “globally ban the use of advanced Chinese chips.”

“Any organization or individual that implements or assists in implementing these US measures may be in violation of China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law and other relevant laws and regulations, and must bear corresponding legal responsibilities,” the statement said.

“China will closely monitor the implementation of the US measures and will take resolute steps to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” it added.

There has been no announcement of further trade talks between the US and China. But last Friday, US trade representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese trade envoy Li Chenggang met on the sidelines of a gathering of APEC trade ministers in South Korea, Reuters reported.

(to be continued)

意外的貿易休戰後，中美兩國再次陷入爭執 (1/2)

就在美國和中國宣布暫時停戰關稅幾天后，雙方的緊張關係已經升溫：這次，焦點是北京最先進的國產半導體的未來。

過去一週，北京多次猛烈抨擊華盛頓警告企業不要使用中國科技巨頭華為生產的人工智能晶片。它甚至指責特朗普政府「破壞」了最近在日內瓦舉行的貿易談判中達成的共識，當時雙方同意暫時降低關稅，並利用 90 天的時間達成更廣泛的協議。

圍繞華為最先進晶片的衝突表明，儘管上周美國和中國談判代表發表了積極言論，但雙方在各種問題上仍然存在尖銳分歧，可能難以克服。

週三，中國商務部發出最新一輪猛烈抨擊，指責美國 “濫用出口管制打壓遏制中國”，實施所謂的“典型的單邊欺凌和保護主義行徑”。

中國此舉是對特朗普政府上周宣布撤銷拜登時代一系列旨在防止人工智慧晶片落入外國對手手中的限制措施的回應。

亦作為該宣布的一部分，美國商務部於 5 月 12 日另發佈了指導意見，警告企業「在世界任何地方使用華為 Ascend 晶片都將違反美國的出口管制」。該部門後來修改了措辭，在聲明的更新版本中刪除了 “世界任何地方” 的說法。

Ascend 晶片是華為最強大的 AI處理器，用於訓練AI模型，旨在挑戰Nvidia在高階晶片設計領域的主導地位。華為的努力對於中國領導人習近平的計劃至關重要，該計劃旨在增強中國自主開發尖端晶片的能力，與美國爭奪人工智能霸主地位。

在上個月的一次高層政治會議上，習近平呼籲中國「自力更生」發展人工智慧，並表示中國將利用「新的舉國體制」來解決瓶頸問題例如先進晶片等。

CNN 已聯繫華為徵求意見。

北京的憤怒

週一，北京方面表示，美國商務部在有關華為的最新聲明中措辭的改變不足以結束這場爭端。中國商務部在聲明中表示，儘管措辭有所 “調整”，但指導意見本身的 “歧視性措施和扭曲市場的性質” 並沒有改變。

外交部表示： “中方透過中美經貿磋商機制與美方進行了各層級的磋商溝通，指出美方行為嚴重破壞了日內瓦高層會談達成的共識” ，敦促美方糾正錯誤。

商務部週三發布的最新聲明是北京向全球企業發出的額外警告，威脅對任何幫助美國「在全球範圍內禁止使用中國先進晶片」的人採取法律行動。

聲明中寫道： “任何組織或個人執行或協助執行美國這些措施，都可能違反中國《反外國制裁法》和其他相關法律法規，必須承擔相應的法律責任。”

聲明又稱道: “中方將密切關注美方措施的實施情況，採取堅決措施維護自身合法權益。”

目前，美國和中國尚未宣布進一步的貿易談判。但據路透社報道，上週五，美國貿易代表Jamieson Greer 和中國貿易特使 Li Chenggang 在韓國舉行的亞太經合組織貿易部長會議期間舉行了場外會晤。

（待續）