Since January, legislation has been making its way through the US Congress that takes the standoff with China to another level.
The Biosecure Act is notable for achieving a degree of cross-party consensus otherwise absent in a presidential election year.
Under its provisions, US federal-funded medical providers would be restricted from contracting with “foreign adversaries,” with life sciences companies instructed to decouple from several named Chinese firms.
Whether the bill becomes law before November’s election remains to be seen. But it’s already having an impact: one of those named companies, Shanghai-based WuXi AppTec, this week reported US revenue was down as a result.
The US is taking its contest with China into the sphere of biotechnology while simultaneously expanding its curbs on semiconductor sales. Fresh unilateral restrictions are being weighed on China’s access to AI memory chips as soon as next month, Mackenzie Hawkins reports.
With escalating US tech rivalry, it’s little wonder that Beijing should look to the European Union.
Enter Giorgia Meloni.
The Italian prime minister’s trip to China this week included a meeting with President Xi Jinping and earned glowing reviews in Chinese state media.
As Rebecca Choong Wilkins writes, her success contrasts with earlier visits by the French and German leaders, suggesting that Beijing is playing on an EU faultline by offering lucrative bilateral ties to far-right governments in Italy and in Hungary, sowing tensions in the 27-nation bloc.
Discord might help China stop a dispute over EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles from spreading to other sectors.
At least Europe is still open to Chinese EVs, unlike the US, which slapped on 100% tariffs.
It’s surely not lost on Beijing that the gulf in transatlantic trade policy between Europe and the US looks set to widen further, regardless of who wins the White House.— Alan Crawford