China’s Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology are considering adding advanced technology used in the production of ingots and wafers, some of the building blocks of solar panels, to a list of technologies that are subject to export controls.
China currently accounts for nearly all of solar ingot and wafer production globally, as well as much of the equipment used in the manufacturing process—especially for the large-scale solar panels that increasingly dominate the market, industry experts say.
The proposed change was among dozens of potential revisions to China’s export control list that are intended “to strengthen the management of technology import and export,” according to a Chinese government announcement issued in late December.
[This might be a shot across the bow in an attempt to dissuade Biden from sanctioning Huawei. Beijing has no problem playing hardball, with its much longer-term approach to trade battles. Biden needs more solar imports more in the short term to keep Congress from forcing an energy-policy change. We’ll see what gives first — national security or the green agenda. Of course, one can argue that we’ve already gotten an answer to that question in Biden’s existing energy policies. — Ed]
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