Going to heaven? U.S. Government Abuses "Entity List"

U.S. technology restrictions on China extend from companies to the field of universities. According to domestic media reports, on June 11, students at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) and Harbin University of Engineering (HUE) reported that the U.S. commercial math software MATLAB purchased by the university was deactivated and about to expire, raising concerns.

The screenshot shows that MathWorks, the software development company, responded that it had suspended the license to the two Chinese universities based on the "entity list" issued by the US government last month. It is suspected that a teacher at HIT said in an email that the university is communicating with MathWorks.

A HIT alumnus said to the Observer that other software can replace some of the functions of MATLAB, and the ban does not affect daily classes, but it will have an impact on undergraduate design and graduate studies. Shen Yi, a professor at Fudan University, commented that the systematic and comprehensive restriction of the U.S. on China's high-tech field will be a regular tactic. For MATLAB, a commercial professional software with a specific market segment, China's response needs to be properly evaluated, such as in-depth development of alternative open source software by the state and enterprises, and preparation of "Plan B" programs.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on 12, the U.S. side of these unilateral sanctions reflects the deep-rooted Cold War thinking, and is not in line with the trend of the times. No suppression can stop the pace of China's scientific and technological development and progress.

MATLAB: involved in aerospace and other fields, used by more than 6,500 institutions worldwide

MATLAB is an advanced technical computing language and interactive environment integration software developed by MathWorks, which is widely used in algorithm development, data visualization, data analysis, simulation modeling, and numerical computation.

Comprehensive "open source China", "deep technology", MATLAB in industrial manufacturing, academic research, and other fields has a near-monopoly market position. There are more than 6,500 universities and colleges worldwide, and more than 10,000 enterprises, government agencies, and university sites have installed and used this software. Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) is one of them.

Harbin Institute of Technology website shows that the whole university has obtained the genuine license of MATLAB

MathWorks officials describe MATLAB as being viewed as a fundamental R&D tool for the entire automotive, aerospace, communications, electronics, and industrial automation sectors, supporting the design and development of a wide range of advanced products, including automotive systems, aerospace flight control and avionics, telecommunications and other electronic devices, industrial machinery, and medical devices.

One of the key features of the software is powerful scalability. Each additional Toolbox is a set of functions that implements a specific function and thus fits into different areas of application. There are currently over 4 million users and 500,000 contributors to the application worldwide.

U.S. Abuses "Entity List" to Force Companies to Terminate Licenses

Titanium Media 11 news, recently, some students from HUST said in Zhihu and other social networks that they received a notice of cancellation of MATLAB genuine software activation. The authorization license expires after multiple entries, and the password cannot be reset.

Some netizens posted a response from MathWorks, stating that the license to the school in question has been terminated based on compliance with the U.S. government entity list. "Just received notice that we are unable to continue service for you based on the latest U.S. government import/export control list."

Screenshot showing suspected HIT teacher revealing that the school is communicating with MathWorks Photo from Social Media

On June 5, the U.S. Department of Commerce placed 33 Chinese companies, universities, research institutions, and individuals on the Export Administration "Entity List" for alleged "military-related" and "human rights" reasons The list includes include two universities, Harbin Institute of Technology and Harbin Engineering. Eight domestic universities and research institutions have been added to the "Entity List".

Under the U.S. Government's Export Administration Regulations, these universities will be subject to the same restrictions as Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE in terms of commercial transactions and access to technology with the United States. Import and export operations with U.S. companies require U.S. government approval.

China's Ministry of Commerce responded at the time: the U.S. side has repeatedly abused export controls and other measures to use state power against other countries' enterprises on the grounds of so-called national security, causing serious damage to the international economic and trade order and posing a serious threat to the security of the global industrial chain supply chain. China firmly opposes this and urges the U.S. side to immediately stop the wrong approach and will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.

Analysis: does not affect the daily curriculum, available open source software alternative

For the impact of this MATLAB banning event in HUST and other universities, many netizens help to make suggestions, citing SCILAB, Octave, Spyder, and other open source software that can replace the function of MATLAB.

However, there are also analyses pointing out that the impact of the ban on domestic enterprises and research scholars cannot be ignored, because when publishing papers or engaging in commercial projects, their results should not contain any MATLAB-based content in principle.

A HIT electrical alumnus, Ajia, told the Observer that the impact of MATLAB on undergraduate basic courses is not particularly great. Although it is a compulsory course, it is not used very often in the first three years by myself. There are alternative software for the professional courses in circuit; it is better to have it for the basic courses, and it is fine without it.

However, the senior graduation design needs to use MATLAB, otherwise, it can not graduate. This is because the software must be used to build a simulation environment when doing simulation and control model algorithms. In addition, even if the school can make certain adjustments to the undergraduate level, the graduate level still needs MATLAB to do simulation.

There are also concerns that, after the U.S. government ban imposed on MathWorks, more scientific instruments and software from abroad will be banned or restricted in the future.

In this regard, Shen Yi, columnist for the Observer and professor of international politics at Fudan University, commented that systematic and comprehensive restrictions on high technology in China, especially in the field of dual-use properties, maybe a regular and basic conventional tactic with a high probability of occurrence. If something has a very concentrated audience and very poor substitutability, then it will look very vulnerable when constrained. But if there is a second or third option that does not use equivalent substitution, the utility (of the sanction) decreases.

And for MATLAB, a commercial professional software with a specific market segment, the Chinese response needs to be aptly assessed. MATLAB was used in the past because there was already mature commercial software in such a niche, and then it could be bought steadily. Now the response is also very simple, the state or the enterprise to pay for the depth of open source software research and development, and prepare for the "backup" like Huawei's "Plan B" program.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying responded at a press conference on the 12th, for a period of time, the U.S. side has taken a lot of very wrong negative words and actions in the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States, especially the so-called sanctions. Such actions by the U.S. side reflect the deep-rooted Cold War thinking, and in fact, the escalating political suppression of China.

Hua Chunying said we believe that such unilateral sanctions or naked political suppression are not in line with the trend of the times. "No suppression can stop the pace of China's scientific and technological development and progress," Hua stressed, "This so-called unilateral sanctions and suppression by the U.S. side will only harm its own interests in the end, and we hope that the U.S. policymakers concerned will realize this."