US assessing expansion of chip controls to counter China's military growth

The US is constantly assessing the need to expand export controls to stop China from acquiring advanced computer chips and manufacturing equipment that could be used to boost its military, US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo said Monday. "Technology is changing faster than ever, which means we have to wake up every day and ask ourselves, 'are we doing enough?' My job is to protect the American people and to make sure there are no sophisticated technology that we have, that China doesn't have, that they can't access it and use it to enable the Chinese military," Raimondo said.

The U.S. would continue to sell semiconductors worth billions of dollars to China, Raimondo said.

"I want to be clear. We have no interest to de-couple our economies," she said, but added, "We cannot allow China to have access, for their military advancement, to our more sophisticated technology."


Raimondo said she was sent by President Joe Biden to Manila with a delegation of executives from 22 American companies, which she said plan to invest about $1 billion in the Philippines, Washington's oldest treaty ally in Asia. The U.S. investments would include training large numbers of Filipinos to attain high-tech skills that could help them land high-paying jobs, she said.

"The U.S.-Philippine alliance is ironclad. It is sustained over 72 years and we remain steadfast friends and increasingly partners in prosperity, she said.