China has cancelled a planned visit by the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, a spokesperson for the bloc announced on Tuesday. The diplomat’s trip was reportedly scheduled for next week.
“Unfortunately, we were informed by the Chinese counterparts that the envisaged dates next week are no longer possible and we must now look for alternatives,” spokesperson Nabila Massrali told Reuters in a written statement.
Beijing had not confirmed the visit and has provided no comment on its apparent cancellation, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning stating at a regular press briefing on Tuesday that she did not have any information to share on Borrell’s potential trip.
The visit was announced by the EU’s envoy to China, Jorge Toledo, on the sidelines of the 11th World Peace Forum in Beijing on Sunday. Borrell was to travel to China next Monday, Toledo said, seeking to address all outstanding issues with Beijing, including “partnership,” “competition” and “systemic rivalry.”
“This will be the place to raise all these issues, especially the strategic issues that we have with China,” Toledo stated, adding that Borrell was scheduled to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
Borrell had been due to visit Beijing in April this year, shortly after EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron toured the country. However, the top diplomat tested positive for coronavirus and the trip was rescheduled.
The top EU diplomat has previously given mixed signals on ties with China, calling it a “rival” but also a partner.
He has pointed to two major “strategic security issues” with China – namely its growing alliance with Russia and neutral stance on the Ukraine conflict – and the issue of Taiwan, regarded by Beijing as an integral part of its territory.
China to Restrict Export of Semiconductor Manufacturing Metals
Beijing has moved to impose restrictions on gallium and germanium, two metals used in the semiconductor production industry.
China's Ministry of Commerce has announced that starting on August 1, export restrictions will apply to gallium and germanium and industrial products and materials containing them, according to local media.
Companies who want to export these materials would reportedly have to procure the appropriate exporting licenses. In order to do so, they would have to submit the appropriate applications to the Ministry of Commerce which may review them together with "relevant departments."
Han Xiaomin, general manager of semiconductor market research company JW Insights, has told a Chinese newspaper that both gallium and germanium are important parts of the semiconductor manufacturing process, not to mention that these metals have applications in the defense industry.
Han also reportedly said that the export restriction may be a "countermeasure" against the efforts led by the US to control the export of microchips to China. China is reportedly the current "dominant global producer" of gallium and germanium, as one Western media outlet put it.
In recent years, the United States and its allies moved to impose severe restrictions on the export of semiconductors and microchips to China, as relations between Washington and Beijing continued to deteriorate since then-US President Donald Trump started the US-Chinese trade war in 2018.
The US also seeks to thwart Beijing’s attempts to develop a domestic microchip industry, seeking to limit the export of chip technology to China.
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