A chip manufacture machine Photo: VCG

The EU will curb artificial intelligence (AI) chip flows to China as part of its trade deal with the US, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) claimed on Thursday. Chinese officials have previously warned other countries and regions against reaching deals with the US at the expense of China's interests and vowed to firmly safeguard its interests.

The EU and the US issued a joint statement on Thursday confirming that the EU will accept tariffs of 15 percent on 70 percent of its exports to the US, as agreed in July. While China is not mentioned once in the 19-point joint statement released on Thursday, veiled references appeared throughout, according to the SCMP. 

It said the EU would buy $40 billion of AI chips from the US, and that it would "adopt" US security standards to "avoid technology leakage to destinations of concern," a euphemistic term often used to refer to China, the SCMP claimed. 

On June 28, asked to comment on US officials' remarks about accelerating trade talks with relevant economies and threats of tariffs, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce, expressed firm opposition to the US' "reciprocal tariffs."

"China welcomes various parties to resolve economic and trade differences with the US through equal consultations. At the same time, we call on all parties to always stand on the side of fairness and justice, on the right side of history, and firmly defend international economic and trade rules and the multilateral trading system. China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China's interests in exchange for so-called tariff reductions," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson further stated that should such a situation arise, China will absolutely not accept it and will resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.

Global Times