China accuses US of fabricating spy claims to justify tech blockade

The Chinese government has accused the United States of using fabricated espionage claims as a pretext to impose a technological blockade on the country.

The diplomatic row follows recent allegations that the Chief Executive Officer of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, was the target of a Chinese intelligence plot.

According to United States officials, Huang, who co-founded the world’s leading supplier of Artificial Intelligence chips, reportedly had an extramarital affair with Alice Huang. The woman is identified as a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed and is suspected by Washington of working for Chinese intelligence.

Addressing the allegations on Thursday, the Spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, reiterated the commitment of Beijing to open cooperation, condemning the US narrative.

“China’s technological progress is driven by independent innovation and open cooperation. The US side should stop fabricating such ‘spy’ narratives as a pretext for imposing a technological blockade”.

Beijing authorities dismissed the espionage claims surrounding the Nvidia boss as groundless speculation and a deliberate attempt to smear China. The tech billionaire has spent years lobbying against stringent United States restrictions on the sale of advanced semiconductor chips to Chinese markets.

Despite objections from political hawks in Washington, US President Donald Trump cleared the export of Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips to China last year.

This diplomatic friction comes ahead of a highly anticipated bilateral meeting next week between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in Shenzhen, southern China.