China this week criticized President Donald Trump's national security memorandum outlining a tougher approach to Cuba (see 2507010040), saying the U.S.'s "barbarian blockade and illegal sanctions" have violated Cuba's freedoms and hurt its people. "China firmly supports Cuba in following a development path fit for its national conditions, and opposes U.S. moves to abuse unilateral sanctions under the pretext of 'freedom' and 'democracy,'" a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said during a regularly scheduled July 2 press conference, according to an unofficial translation. "We urge the U.S. to immediately lift the blockade and sanctions against Cuba and remove the country from the list of 'state sponsors of terrorism.'"
Chinese surveillance technology company Hikvision criticized an order by the Canadian government directing it to stop operating in the country (see 2506300022), saying it was based on “unfounded allegations of national security concerns.” The company said the Canadian order was based on the fact that Hikvision is headquartered in China.
Japan imposed definitive antidumping duties on graphite electrodes from China on June 27, the Ministry of Finance announced. The duties will be imposed at a 95.2% rate following a finding that Chinese graphite electrodes injure the Japanese industry. They will be in effect for a five-year period starting July 3.
China is renewing its antidumping duties on stainless steel billets and stainless steel hot-rolled plates and coils from the EU, the U.K., South Korea and Indonesia, the country's Ministry of Commerce said June 30, according to an unofficial translation. The duties, which will remain in place for five years beginning July 1, include a 43% duty on EU and U.K. companies; a 103.1% duty on Korean companies, along with a 23.1% rate for South Korea-based Posco; and a 20.2% rate for Indonesian companies. Beijing said it renewed the duties, first imposed in 2019, to protect its domestic stainless steel industries.
The Singapore Exchange has recently asked entities listed on the exchange about their exposure to sanctions and export control risks, stressing that "inadequate compliance could lead to trading suspensions," Hogan Lovells said in a client alert this month.
Malaysia said it's looking into reports that a Chinese company is using servers with Nvidia chips and artificial intelligence chips for large language models training in Malaysia. The country's Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry is "still in the process of verifying the matter with relevant agencies if any domestic law or regulation has been breached."
Days after U.S. officials said they secured an agreement for Beijing to rein in its export curbs on critical minerals (see 2506110044), China announced it has approved license applications for those exports, but didn't offer more details.
China on June 18 began issuing electronic “apostilles” for certificates of origin as part of a pilot program aimed at eliminating paper applications, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said during a regular press conference. The apostilles will certify the authenticity of certificates of origin issued by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and applications will “no longer need to go through any off-line procedures at consular authentication agencies,” the spokesperson said.
China's Foreign Ministry this week objected to Taiwan's recent decision to add Huawei and SMIC to Taiwan's Entity List (see 2506160008), and it criticized the U.S. for potentially pushing Taiwan toward the move.
China is extending its antidumping duty investigation on imports of pork and pork byproducts from the EU (see 2406180009), according to an unofficial translation of a Ministry of Commerce press release. The review was scheduled to be completed by June 17, but China said it's now hoping to finish it by Dec. 16 "in view of the complexity of this case." China announced the investigation last year, days after the EU said it would set new countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicles (see 2406120008).