Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
- Xie Feng, the Chinese ambassador to the US, said Washington isn't playing fair in its tech race with China.
- Restrictions on China are like forcing it to wear outdated swimwear while the US wears Speedos, he said.
- The tech war between the world's two largest economies has been intensifying.
It's no secret the US and China are locked in a strategic rivalry — from geopolitical influence to tech — but the competition is now entering bizarre territory.
We know that because a reference to Speedos, the purveyor of tight swim briefs, just got thrown into the fray.
On Wednesday, Xie Feng, the Chinese ambassador to the US, found the most unexpected analogy to the US-China tech competition by comparing American restrictions on China to different types of swimwear.
"It is like forcing the other side to wear outdated swimwear in a swimming contest while you yourself are wearing a Speedo Fastskin," Xie said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on Wednesday.
The envoy was referring to the swimwear brand's high-tech performance wear for the sport.
Hear the full quote in this tweet from China's state-run CGTN news network.
—CGTN America (@cgtnamerica) July 20, 2023
The tech war between the world's two largest economies has been in turbo mode since October last year when the US imposed restrictions on exporting chips to China.
And we've now entered the tit-for-tat segment of the tech wars.
Earlier this month, China announced it will be banning exports of gallium and germanium — two little-known raw metals used in chip making, electronics, and solar products. That was just days after the Netherlands, a US ally, restricted the sale of high-end chipmaking equipment abroad — a move that appears to be targeting China.
The Biden administration now wants to curb Chinese companies' access to US-based cloud-computing services, the Wall Street Journal reported on July 4, citing people familiar with the situation. It also wants to slap further export restrictions on AI chips to China, the Wall Street Journal reported on June 27.
China's lined up its own comeback.
In May, Beijing banned the sale of chips from Micron, a US company, to China's key domestic infrastructure operators.
Xie said China wouldn't shy away from competition but complained that the US was not being fair in its race with China.
"The Chinese government cannot simply sit idly by," he told the security forum on Wednesday. "We will not make provocations, but we will not flinch from provocations. So, China definitely will make our response."