This undated photo shows staff member working on the production line of a semiconductor manufacturer in Binzhou, Shandong province. (CHU BAORUI / FOR CHINA DAILY)

BEIJING - The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday said the United States has been stepping up control over chip export to China and going after China's semiconductor industry in the name of national security, which is out-and-out economic bullying.

Spokesperson for the ministry Mao Ning made the remarks at a regular press briefing, noting that the US semiconductor export controls against China amount to discriminatory practices that violate the most-favored-nation principle stipulated in Article 1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

The spokesperson said blacklisting China's telecom equipment companies and prohibiting Chinese-made telecom equipment from entering the US market in the name of protecting cyber security violate the principle of general elimination of quantitative restrictions stipulated in Article 11 of the GATT.

Noting that the ban also contravenes stipulations in the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement, Mao said despite its rhetorical emphasis on international rules, the United States habitually ignores and breaks existing rules.

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This undated photo shows a worker producing microchips at a factory in Ganzhou, Jiangxi province. (XU CHANGLIANG / FOR CHINA DAILY)

"The United States uses national security as a pretext to restrict chip export to China, but the measures it has taken clearly go beyond the realm of national security and have gravely hindered the normal trade of ordinary chips for civilian use," Mao said.

Taking the Nvidia RTX 4090 as an example, Mao said it is a consumer graphics card for video game enthusiasts. But the company has been forced to pull this product off the Chinese market due to US export controls.

"The United States has been asking certain countries to join itself in curbing Chinese companies. This has nothing to do with security. This is pure economic coercion," Mao said.

Mao said that all of the above shows that the United States is going after Chinese chip industry neither for national security reasons nor as part of a legitimate competition.

"This is unilateral bullying without principles or bottom lines that essentially denies emerging markets and developing countries the right to a better life for their people," she said.

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Stressing that the US behavior is taking a serious toll on the stability of the global industrial and supply chains, Mao said it poisons the atmosphere for international cooperation and fuels division and confrontation. This selfish move will inevitably backfire.