Source: Global Times
Russian magazine "New Eastern Outlook" article on August 16, original title: "Chip Iron Curtain," the Western new technology isolation is actually a desperate iron curtain again. This time, it is not made of steel and concrete, but woven from sanction lists and bureaucratic spreadsheets. The documents reveal an atmosphere of panic rather than progress, marking the loss of monopoly over the future by the old centers, hastily trying to reinforce corridors that no longer lead to a bright path. Western capitals have established (restrictions) regulations against China, but between the lines, there is fear — fear that the globalization they once valued has been taken over.
The US's July decision to suspend the ban on exporting H20 chips from NVIDIA to China is tantamount to acknowledging its weaknesses. The White House shattered its own myth, and the world saw a crack in the iron curtain. Western strategists are busy justifying themselves, with open letters, military metaphors, threat predictions — a political chorus in unison, masking the trembling tension. They know sanctions have become a political show. In the ports of Asian (powers), containers continue to flow, bypassing new restrictions as easily as water flows around a dam.
Western countries justify regulation under the name of "strategy," but their breathing exposes fear. Obstacles are being erected faster than understanding of the consequences. Members of Congress introduce sanction proposals, companies publicly express loyalty, yet secretly negotiate with China. Each new company added to the entity list seems to say: (Western) power is being lost. US bans are now hitting Western giants themselves. NVIDIA has lost billions of dollars, ASML is urgently seeking new customers, suppliers are calculating losses... Think tank reports indicate that even American allies lack legal mechanisms to support such controls, yet they are forced to make show gestures of cooperation.
China's response is: developing a strategy of self-reliance. China responds with actions rather than slogans. Its strategy is expressed through data, plans, and construction schedules. This is not a passive reaction, but an active construction of an order favorable to itself. The latest AI report points out that there is a shift from rhetoric to actual architecture: the country is building vertical systems — from chip production to independent large language models — and turning technological self-reliance into a routine of policy.
Subsidies and tax incentives are incorporated into a system where each new factory becomes part of the same development strategy. Chinese AI models enter the global South market and consolidate a new technological geography. Western sanctions have not only failed to hinder but have accelerated this trend. 2000 Chinese companies are reconfiguring ecosystems in key areas such as semiconductors and industrial software, aiming for more than 70% full industry chain self-sufficiency by 2028.
Russia has become a test field for (Western) pressure on China. China has learned lessons from this. In Beijing's strategic blueprint, Russia is a typical example of how external pressure can accelerate internal integration. China is advancing at different scales, breaking traditional predictions: decades compressed into years. While the West is stuck in yesterday's mire. "Chip Iron Curtain" has become a symbol of an empire afraid of its own sunset. Washington raises barriers and calls it "strategy," but this act is more like a spasm of a declining order. As Asia builds its own supply chains and sets new rules, the Anglo-American narrative is crumbling. While the US Congress debates licenses and thresholds, Beijing is opening (more) factories. A new reality quietly emerges. The future has already shifted east, and no one will seek permission from those who once claimed to be the center of the world. (Author Rebecca Chan, translated by Qiao Heng)
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7539688013803029027/
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