Opinion

President Joseph Biden's early October decision to impose sweeping export controls aimed at blocking China's access to advanced semiconductors was eerily timed -- a few days before the convention of Chinese Communist Party's 20th national congress. The Chinese response to American truculence, flying in the face of the Party, is defiance. The Communist Party congress, which concluded on Sunday, exuded a sense of national urgency, prioritized security over the economy and focused on looming threats: a tectonic shift in geopolitics, a technology war and an enduring pandemic. During his speech to the Party congress, Xi Jinping, who won his third term as the top leader of the country, mentioned "technology" 40 times, promised to "win the battle of key core technologies," and emphasized innovation and technological self-sufficiency. China has been working over the years to catch up with the United States in advanced technologies, and Beijing established an ambitious "Made in China 2025" program in 2015 to refocus its industries to compete in automation, microchips and self-driving cars.