Workers make chips for export at an electronics company in Sihong, east China's Jiangsu province, Feb 23, 2022. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BEIJING - China strongly opposes the United States' requirement of forbidding chip makers of the Republic of Korea to fill the gap of chip exports left by their American peers in the Chinese market, said a commerce ministry spokesperson Thursday.

The United States is seeking decoupling and disruption of industrial and supply chains by abusing export control and forcing some countries to practice trade protectionism against China, said Shu Jueting, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, told a press conference

The US act is textbook bullying that severely disrupts regular economic and trade exchanges between companies and undermines market regulations and the international economic and trade order, Shu Jueting, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, told a press conference.

She said the move also threatens the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains.

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Noting that the chip industry chain is built on collaboration between economies with respective comparative advantages, Shu said that the United States is seeking decoupling and disruption of industrial and supply chains by abusing export control and forcing some countries to practice trade protectionism against China.

Shu added such US attempts are the main reason behind the recent revenue and profit nosedives of companies along the industrial and supply chains of chips in certain countries.

Citing a comment piece on the matter, Shu said governments and companies of relevant countries should defend free trade rules and construct a global industrial and supply chain system that is safe, stable, smooth, open, inclusive, and win-win.

Addressing media reports on upcoming US measures to contain investments in China, Shu said it is a typical non-market practice to apply intervention or restriction to companies' decision-making using administrative means. Also, it is against the basic principles of global economics and trade to launch discriminatory containment directed at a specific country, she added.

China will strongly oppose the US measures if the news is true, Shu said.

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Given that the United States had often expressed its willingness to engage in benign competition with China instead of pursuing China-US decoupling, China hopes that the US side will stay true to its words and respect companies' rights to conduct investment and trade to achieve win-win outcomes, said Shu.