Citing the need to protect the national security of the United States, the US Commerce Department added another seven Chinese space, aerospace and related technology entities to its Entity List on Tuesday, severely restricting their access to US-origin commodities, software and technologies subject to the Export Administration Regulations of the country.
The Commerce Department has so far put about 600 Chinese entities on the Entity List, more than 110 of which have been added since the Joe Biden administration took office. They are the key players in almost all China's competitive sectors, ranging from telecommunications and information to semiconductors and aerospace.
It is the speed with which China has been catching up with the US in these fields, and the momentum it has demonstrated of becoming one of the major players in relevant cutting-edge technologies in the foreseeable future, that have prompted the US to resort to export controls to try and thwart the progress of the Chinese companies.
The US fears competition. Its ingrained belief in the law of the jungle means it views it as kill or be killed.
When the US takes advantage of its leading position in the global supply and value chains to access cheap labor and resources and broad market in the less-developed countries, and becomes stronger in the process, the latter do not regard it as a threat to their national security. Even if the US has indeed started or incited wars and unrest in many of them. Because they know that economic globalization promotes common development, which lays the foundation for collective security.
The heavy price the world has paid for the COVID-19 pandemic, global warming and Ukraine crisis unequivocally proves that no party can be safe until all are safe.
The US' weaponizing of export controls to crack down on foreign enterprises, institutions and individuals harms normal economic and trade cooperation between enterprises of China and the US, manufactures difficulties and obstacles, and violates the international economy and trade order. No country can become more secure by making others less secure.
That the US strategists cannot advance with the times is an important reason why they have played a handful of good cards in a disastrous way.
Out of their fear of the US losing its hegemony, they are trying to turn a reliable partner that has broad common interests with the US into a rival, and leaving no stone unturned to divide the world into a US-club and others, without a Plan B.
As a matter of fact, it is not China that has changed－it might be one of the few countries that are most resistant to change in terms of values, culture, lifestyle and development model given its huge historical momentum－it is the US that is becoming increasingly unconfident fearing others will do to it what it has done to others if it falls behind even in one single field.
That is prompting it to make one ill-judged and costly gamble after another.