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The Chinese government has for decades mischaracterized American policies it opposes as a broad conspiracy to “contain” China. China’s containment dreams feature prominently in official criticism of America’s overall Indo-Pacific strategy and on specific issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, the South China Seas, Pacific Islands, the Quad and, of course, human rights.
China’s containment conspiracy theories finally came true, however, when the Biden administration announced its Oct. 7 semiconductor export control policy. The new approach is unabashed containment, albeit in a narrowly defined technical domain, with the explicit purpose of hobbling China’s advanced semiconductor technology progress.
National security advisor Jake Sullivan stated on Sept. 16 that instead of continuing U.S. policy to maintain a “relative” advantage in advanced computing chips, “we must maintain as large of a lead as possible.” Accordingly, the U.S. will seek to establish absolute technology superiority and prevent Chinese progress on advanced semiconductors both directly and indirectly by denying key semiconductor products and technologies.
This new policy may be a turning point in U.S.-China relations. This approach departs from the past and establishes an important precedent because it is designed primarily not to manage differences or maintain a level playing field or remain a few steps ahead in a key technology field, but rather to explicitly contain indefinitely Chinese advanced technology development.
To be sure, this change has been a long time coming. Some will say that President Trump introduced containment into the relationship well before Biden took office.
