According to a Bloomberg UK report, Guan Wenhui, a Chinese lawmaker, has proposed a new rule under which government-backed firms will be able to keep their foreign suppliers secret. This would help these companies bypass U.S. trade restrictions (or rather for the U.S. and other governments to reveal illegal shipments), which have made it increasingly difficult for China to acquire advanced processors, software, and chip making tools.
Guan, a delegate at the National People’s Congress, proposed that companies blacklisted by the U.S. should not be required to reveal their suppliers in public tenders. Instead, purchases should be conducted privately to avoid scrutiny. She argued that disclosing supplier identities could pressure them to cut ties with Chinese buyers, limiting access to foreign technology. Guan works for a division of Naura Technology Group, a semiconductor equipment manufacturer that was added to the U.S. export blacklist in late 2024.
Truth to be told, but Chinese entities (both regular and blacklisted) already smuggle plenty of chips and equipment made in the U.S., Western Europe, and Japan from third countries despite restrictions imposed by foreign governments. In addition, they tend to find loopholes in the restrictions and obtain what they need legally. Another way to get chips to a restricted entity is to ask their developer to sell its chips on wafers to a proxy, then have them diced and packaged by a proxy, and then mark them as if it was designed and made by the restricted entity.
The new law will make it harder for various analysts, observers, government agents, and whistleblowers to identify components or software shipped to blacklisted government-owned or government-controlled companies. However, it will hardly make their lives considerably easier in general.
Nonetheless, Guan’s proposal highlights a larger trend: increasing secrecy in China’s technology sector. As foreign scrutiny grows, Chinese companies and policymakers are making information about imports and even the progress made by domestic companies less accessible. This makes it harder (or impossible) for outsiders to follow the country’s technological advancements.
Although proposals from NPC delegates do not always lead to policy changes, they signal important shifts in China’s Communist Party priorities. Guan’s comments indicate that China is actively seeking ways to maintain access to global technology while reducing exposure to U.S. sanctions. This approach, combined with a push for domestic innovation, suggests that China will continue to find ways to work around export restrictions in its ongoing tech competition with the U.S.
