BEIJING: Washington has tightened technology restrictions on China on two fronts in less than a week. On Tuesday local time, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) added advanced robots and power inverters to its Covered List, barring imports of new models.
It came after on July 23, the US Department of Defense published an updated “1286 List,” claiming to “counter unauthorized technology transfer to foreign countries of concern,” with the list identifying 130 academic and research institutions located in China, Russia and Iran, a move China’s Ministry of Commerce slammed as politicizing, weaponizing and instrumentalizing research cooperation, obstructing exchanges between the two countries’ research communities and running counter to the global trend of sci-tech innovation cooperation.
The two moves target opposite ends of the same chain, analysts said: one cuts channels for China-US research cooperation, while the other blocks Chinese products from the US market. The latest US approach reflects anxiety over China’s technological rise and a desire to preserve sci-tech hegemony rather than an effective strategy. Analysts said the “small yard, high fence” approach has never halted China’s progress, but instead risks undermining innovation and disrupting the global technology ecosystem, including in the US.
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday local time updated its “Covered List” to include two new categories of devices – “advanced robotic devices” (defined as mobile robots, such as humanoids and quadrupeds) and, separately, connected power inverters produced in foreign countries.
An FCC announcement claimed that “these devices could create supply chain vulnerabilities that could disrupt US economic and national security and could create a cybersecurity risk that threatened American critical infrastructure.”
The announcement did not point out China but foreign media, including Reuters, reported that the new bans, while framed as applying to foreign-produced devices, “target imports of new Chinese robots and power inverters, seeking to protect the US AI buildout from national security threats and reshore key industries slated for explosive growth.”
Following Tuesday’s actions, the FCC is expected to exempt many non-Chinese suppliers from the restrictions, as it has done with recent bans on foreign drones and routers, Reuters reported, citing four additional sources.
Responding to the FCC ban, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press conference on Wednesday that China firmly opposes the US overstretching the concept of national security and going after Chinese companies.
Protectionism does not make the US more competitive and will only hurt the interests of US companies and consumers, she said, adding that China will continue to do what is necessary to firmly defend the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies.
Humanoid and quadruped robots are still in their early stages, and imports would allow mutual learning and progress. Banning them would force American firms to operate “behind closed doors,” slowing innovation, Xiang Ligang, a veteran telecom industry analyst, told the Global Times.
Zhang Xiaorong, director of the Beijing-based Cutting-Edge Technology Research Institute, told the Global Times on Wednesday that “in emerging fields like humanoid robots which are still far from mature global mass adoption, such isolation prevents learning and benchmarking, harming US development.”
“Similarly, power inverters are critical for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and renewable integration. Rejecting cost-effective Chinese options could raise electricity costs and slow AI progress due to supply or pricing issues,” Zhang said.
“The US currently faces prominent problems in its energy system, with insufficient power support for AI development. If Chinese inverters are not adopted, other options either have unstable supply or excessively high prices, clearly not a wise move,” Xiang said. –The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
