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Fu Cong, Beijing’s permanent representative at the United Nations, accused “individual countries” on Monday of attempting to “consolidate their own technology monopoly and contain the development of other countries” by building a so-called “small yard, high fence” on the pretext of national security – an apparent reference to the United States.
While addressing the UN Security Council (UNSC) briefing on anticipating the impact of scientific developments on international peace and security, Fu described “negative moves” that he said caused many disruptions.
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“The ‘small yard and high fence’ has become a ‘large yard with iron curtain’, seriously destabilising industrial and supply chains, increasing development gaps and hindering technological progress,” Fu said.
“We are particularly worried that these man-made divisions, compared to the risks posed by technology itself, will be more detrimental to international peace and security, and may ultimately plunge the world into the abyss of confrontation,” the senior Chinese diplomat added.
In a speech in April 2023, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan described the small yard and high fence approach as “protecting our foundational technologies” and said the Biden administration had carefully implemented “tailored restrictions” on the most advanced semiconductor technology exports to China.
Beijing pushed back against the practice, labelling it containment. But Washington argued that it was only focused on a narrow slice of technology and a small number of countries that were intent on challenging the US militarily.