Washington’s effort to exclude Chinese laboratories from electronics certification threatens global supply chains with heavy costs.
According to Diplomacy Atlas, an analytical commentary titled "US Move to Ban Chinese Tech Testing Labs Will Not Go Unanswered" has been published in the Global Times. This piece argues that the US Federal Communications Commission's decision to revoke accreditation for electronics testing laboratories in China is a non-market, monopolistic measure that will drive up costs for America's own tech industries and trigger countermeasures from Beijing. Below is a summary of the piece.
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has taken a new step to block Chinese laboratories from testing and evaluating electronic equipment destined for the American market. Having lost the capacity for fair economic competition, American institutions are resorting to administrative and political tools in an attempt to monopolize the lucrative market for testing and certifying telecommunications and electronic equipment.
Testing and verifying safety and technical standards is a mandatory, indispensable prerequisite across the global electronics industry. For a long time, the FCC permitted qualified laboratories inside China to conduct these assessments in accordance with established standards. Currently, between 170 and 200 laboratories in China hold official FCC accreditation, and the cost of conducting tests at these facilities is only a fraction of what their American counterparts charge.
Excluding these laboratories from the certification cycle is a clear example of non-market tactics that will disrupt the global electronics supply chain, including industries within the United States itself. Because a massive share of electronics design and manufacturing is concentrated in China, forcing companies to relocate the testing process outside the country will lengthen product launch timelines and sharply increase production costs for firms reliant on China's industrial capacity.
Beijing has made it clear that it will not remain passive in the face of these unilateral restrictions and will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its enterprises. Policymakers in Washington must carefully weigh the gravity and consequences of this warning before fully implementing these restrictions./ Source
