Last week, China’s State Council passed regulations governing dual-use goods. Details of the new rules have not been released, but the Ministry of Commerce released a draft in April 2022 for public comment.

Accordingly, the draft proposes to amend the Export Control Law 2020 and establish unified rules in addressing issues surrounding the export of nuclear, missile, biotechnology and chemical technologies.

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China seeks to tighten control over dual-use technology exports. Photo: ChatGPT

Lu Xiang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the new regulation was issued “timely” in the context of current international political competition, and that the pager explosions in Lebanon were examples of the weaponization of civilian products.

According to this expert, an important aspect of the regulation is to establish a management framework that can trace the origin of the end user, as well as the intended use of the technology.

Last year, Beijing tightened controls on exports of drones, aerospace equipment and certain minerals such as gallium and germanium, rare metals vital to semiconductor manufacturing.

China's further export controls - along with restrictions by the US and Europe - could accelerate the fragmentation and fragmentation of global technology production, according to Chong Ja-ian, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.

“In some respects this may make sourcing some technologies more difficult for other countries, but in fact it may accelerate the development of separate technology ecosystems and supply chains around the world that was already underway,” he said.

(According to SCMP)

Japan and China are 'racing' to apply dual-use technology in the military. Countries such as Japan and China are increasing research into the application of civilian technologies for military purposes.