China urges US to correct ‘wrongdoings’ on AI chip curb

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BEIJING (Reuters) -China on Monday urged the United States to “immediately correct its wrongdoings” and stop “discriminatory” measures after the U.S. issued guidance warning companies not to use advanced computer chips from China, including Huawei’s Ascend AI chips.

The U.S. action seriously undermined consensus reached at the high-level bilateral talks in Geneva, a statement from China’s commerce ministry said, vowing resolute measures if the U.S. continues to “substantially” harm China’s interests.

The U.S. Commerce Department issued guidance last week alerting businesses to the risk of violating U.S. export controls by using Chinese chips.

“The U.S. has been abusing export control measures, imposing stricter restrictions on Chinese chip products under unfounded accusations… China firmly opposes this,” the Chinese ministry said.

“Trying to trip others won’t make oneself run faster,” it added, warning that Washington’s move could ultimately harm the U.S.’s own industrial competitiveness.

The comments came after China and the U.S. reached an unexpected 90-day tariff truce earlier this month following trade talks in Geneva, in which both sides agreed to scale back triple-digit duties levied on each other’s products as they work towards a more permanent deal.

China’s Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer – both negotiators in the Geneva talks – also met last week on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in South Korea.

Neither side has issued a statement on the details of the discussions.

(Reporting by Ethan Wang, Shi Bu and Liz Lee;Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Andrea Ricci)