China’s escalating protests against new US restrictions targeting Chinese-made microchips are a sign of Beijing’s determination not to cede any more ground in its stand-off with Washington over a basket of tech and trade issues, analysts said.
The move also reflects China’s growing confidence in its ability to go toe-to-toe with Washington over trade and technology issues, with Beijing likely aiming to force Washington to “at least back down” over the chip rules, they added.
“China’s stronger retaliation post-Liberation Day may have been to prevent the ‘give them an inch and they’ll take a mile’ style of development from continuing,” said Lynn Song, chief Greater China economist at investment bank ING, referring to the day US President Donald Trump launched his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs, on April 2.
