ICT Desk

Japan on Friday unveiled plans to control exports of 23 items used to make semiconductors, following US pressure for countries to impose restrictions to contain China.

The announcement comes after the Netherlands implemented similar restrictions this month, prompting a rebuke from China.

The Japanese measures aim to "prevent the military diversion of technologies", trade minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters.

Tensions are growing in the global microchip market, with Western officials raising the alarm over the provision of core components to increasingly adversarial trading partners.

The Dutch government announced its plans for new export rules following pressure from the United States to restrict Chinese access to the technology.

Japan had been expected to take similar steps with its ally Washington also reportedly urging the country to impose controls.

The trade ministry said the move was not targeted at any specific nation, however, with Nishimura saying Japan "intends to play a responsible role in the international community" as a country with advanced memory-chip technology.

The ministry will now solicit public opinion on the measures, which are expected to come into force from July.

About 10 major companies including Tokyo Electron and Nikon will be affected by the new measures, Jiji Press reported, citing unnamed government sources.
The United States in October announced export measures aimed at curbing China's ability to buy and make high-end chips with military applications.

They included restrictions on some chips used in supercomputing as well as stricter requirements on the sale of semiconductor equipment.

Japan also said Friday that top diplomat Yoshimasa Hayashi will visit China this weekend, the first such visit in more than three years.

As the world's second and third-largest economies, the nations are key trading partners.

Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have been fraught in recent years, with Japan wary of China's growing military power in the region.