Japan, Netherlands ‘Won’t Impose Immediate China Chip Curbs’

The US sees the participation of other top producers of chipmaking equipment as essential to making its sweeping chip export controls against China effective

Japan and the Netherlands will not impose immediate chip export curbs against China, following upcoming talks with the US, a person familiar with US officials’ thinking has revealed.

The White House is set to discuss its recent crackdown on exports of chip-making tools to China with Japanese and Dutch officials during upcoming visits.

The Biden administration published a sweeping set of chip export controls against China in October. These included measures to tightly restrict Chinese access to US chipmaking technology, as part of a bid to slow Beijing’s technological and military advances.

The US sees the participation of key allies Japan and the Netherlands as essential to making the chip export controls effective. That’s because Japanese and Dutch firms Tokyo Electron and ASML are also top producers of chipmaking equipment.

However, Washington has not yet succeeded in convincing them to implement similar curbs.

Upcoming meetings between US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the White House on Friday and next Tuesday, respectively, will provide forums to discuss the issue, said a person briefed on US officials’ thinking.

But, “these visits will not result in immediate announcements and (are) part of our ongoing consultations on these issues,” the person cautioned.

A key Commerce department official said in October that such agreements were coming “in the near-term.”

Source: Asia Financial