Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 28th-A spokesman for the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade made a statement on the 28th on Japan’s proposed revision of export control measures for semiconductor equipment. The full text is as follows:

　　On March 31, 2023, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan announced that it would revise the export control measures of the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law and strengthen the export control of 23 kinds of high-performance semiconductor manufacturing equipment in 6 categories. The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the China International Chamber of Commerce solemnly declared their firm opposition to the Japanese proposed measures.

　　The proposed measures are broad in scope, unclear and opaque in policy provisions, and the items to be listed are far beyond the scope of conventional control. The measures contain a large number of widely used civilian items, and even include items that are clearly not on the export control list as stipulated in the Wassenaar Agreement, far exceeding the scope of control proposed by international mechanisms and other countries. It is worth noting that Japan’s proposed measures are aimed at semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which cannot be used for military purposes. The final use of the semiconductor products it produces is generally used for consumer electronic products, which has nothing to do with the military.

　　China’s discriminatory practices against the semiconductor industry on the grounds of the so-called risk of hindering the maintenance of international security and peace have seriously violated international rules. Although the Japanese side indicated that the proposed measures were not targeted at specific countries, it would adopt the licensing procedures and methods of case-by-case examination and approval for China and many other countries other than its 42 friendly countries or regions, which essentially created obstacles for these countries and took discriminatory measures, which was suspected of violating WTO obligations such as the principle of most-favored-nation treatment and the principle of quantity limitation. In addition, the proposed measures also have some problems in terms of legislative procedures and wording, such as hasty introduction and vague expression of technical indicators, which obviously ignores the opinions of relevant enterprises and makes it difficult for enterprises to comply with relevant activities.

　　The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, as the largest trade and investment promotion organization in China, and the China International Chamber of Commerce, as the largest and most influential foreign-related chamber of commerce in China, advocate and actively promote economic and trade cooperation and scientific and technological exchanges between China and Japan in the semiconductor field, and promote the development of mutual benefit and win-win in the semiconductor industry between the two countries. Once the proposed Japanese control measures come into effect, it will have a significant adverse impact on Sino-Japanese economic and trade cooperation and scientific and technological exchanges in the semiconductor field, which will not only cause losses to the economic interests of the market participants of China and Japan, but also destroy the global semiconductor industry supply chain and reduce the overall competition and development potential of the industry. We have submitted comments to the Japanese side, calling on the Japanese government to earnestly listen to the rational voice, carefully consider the control measures to be implemented in this revision, and finally make a decision in line with the common interests of the Chinese and Japanese semiconductor industries.