China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has voiced opposition to the US’s misuse of export controls and urged both countries to maintain stable trade and economic ties, as a scandal involving former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang’s extramarital affair and related espionage suspicions continues to unfold.
At a regular press briefing on Friday (13 November), Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning was asked about efforts by US lawmakers and the Commerce Department to accelerate new chip legislation aimed at preventing Chinese companies from remotely accessing US computing resources hosted abroad. A reporter asked whether the restrictions would violate the China-US trade truce and how China would respond.
Mao said China has consistently opposed the misuse of export controls that disrupt the stability of global industrial and supply chains, which serves no party’s interests. She said China and the US should jointly implement the important understandings reached by their leaders and maintain the stable development of bilateral economic and trade relations.
Nvidia’s board announced on Thursday (12 November) that Huang had resigned. He had earlier admitted to an extramarital affair with Huang Le, a former executive at data centre company Megaspeed who is alleged to be a Chinese intelligence operative. US media also reported that Jensen Huang was suspected of having an affair with a married female Nvidia executive.
As the scandal continued to unfold, US media quoted American lawmakers as saying they supported further tightening chip export controls on China.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson said: “Chip export controls on China have long been a major issue for Congress. I support restricting these exports.” He said a consensus was gradually emerging in Congress on the importance of taking this position.
