China urges U.S. to uphold open, fair environment for scientific, technological development

BEIJING, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- The United States should work with the international community to uphold an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for scientific and technological development and international businesses, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said here Wednesday.

It was reported that the U.S. government is considering imposing tougher sanctions on the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China's top home-grown chipmaker.

In response, spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a daily news briefing that economic globalization is an objective reality and historical trend, adding that China always believes that scientific and technological achievements should benefit all mankind, rather than be used as a means to restrict the development of other countries.

"By overstretching the concept of national security, certain U.S. politicians politicize and instrumentalize science and technology and economic and trade issues based on ideology. This runs counter to the principle of market economy and fair competition," Zhao said.

The U.S. practice will only threaten and hurt the security of global industrial and supply chains and undermine international trade rules. Such attempts were typical political manipulation that harm everyone, he added.

"We advise some people in the United States to abandon the Cold War mentality and ideological bias, stop abusing state power to groundlessly suppress specific Chinese sectors and enterprises, and stop violating market economy principles and international trade rules," the spokesperson said.

He warned that China will, as always, firmly defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.