Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian called the America Skills Act (the draft law on competition and the development of the semiconductor industry) of “new product of the Cold War between the United States and China”.
China doesn’t want America’s Skills Act
Uncle Sam’s country wants to put $352 billion on the table to stimulate production and research and development in the field of semiconductors. A 2,900-page text that should allow the United States to catching up on Asia and more specifically on China. The America Skills Act plans to massively support the industry to achieve this. The reaction of Beijing leaves no more room for doubt: this bill will intensify the technological rivalry between the two major world powers.
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In China, state media and several senior officials have criticized the likely arrival of the America Skills Act. This bill provides funding of $ 52 billion to stimulate the production of semiconductors on American soil, $ 45 billion to strengthen supply chains, and $ 250 billion to accelerate research and innovation. No wonder that this bill irritates Beijing. It includes guidelines to address concerns about alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang, Hong Kong’s crackdown on democracy and tensions in Taiwan.
This bill reflects a “cold war mentality” according to Beijing
Zhao Lijian said on Monday, February 7, 2022 that China strongly opposed the America Skills Act because it is “imbued with a cold war mentality, that he undermines China’s development paths and policies, that he defends the rhetoric of competition with China and that he makes inappropriate remarks about Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet”. Similar remarks to those made last year by Wang Wenbin, at the time of the adoption of the US Innovation and Competition Act. The field of semiconductors is becoming more and more sensitive.
Today, the United States is in an “alarming” situation. From the early 1990s to 2020, the share of the United States in the global production of chips has increased from 37 to 12%. It is even expected to fall by another 3% by 2030. Unless the support of the public authorities makes it possible to reverse the trend. China, meanwhile, is expected to see its share of chip manufacturing pass from 12% in 2020 to 28% in 2030. The rivalries between the two major world powers have been crystallizing for several months around this topic.
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