Beijing does not want a trade war with Washington

The Chinese ambassador to the United States said that his country “does not want a trade war With Washington,” but it will respond to any other US restrictions, in terms of technology and trade.

Ambassador Xie Feng criticized US restrictions on selling electronic chips to China, which were imposed by President Joe Biden’s administration last year.

Beijing described this measure as “part of an attempt to contain China,” according to the Associated Press.

“China is not shy about competition, but I think the United States’ definition of the concept of competition is not fair,” Xie said on Wednesday at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

“The United States is trying to win this competition by alienating China,” he added, referring to measures to limit sales of US technology to the Chinese telecom giant (Huawei) due to security concerns.

“It’s like restricting one swimmer to wearing an old swimsuit in a race while the other side is wearing a Speedo swimsuit,” he added.

China imposed restrictions on the export of two key metals used in chips and solar cells this month, a measure seen as retaliation for US restrictions on microchips.

Beijing also imposed restrictions earlier this year on sales of products from Micron, the largest US maker of electronic chips.

“We definitely don’t want a trade war. We want to say goodbye to the Iron Curtain, as well as the Silicon Curtain,” Xie said.

Xie’s comments come as Washington and Beijing try to repair their relations, which have reached new lows in the past months over several issues, including the downing of a Chinese spy balloon over US soil, tensions over trade, technology and human rights, and China’s consideration of Taiwan as part of its territory.