SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A U.S. lawmaker's demand for trade curbs on a Chinese memory chipmaker in response to&nbsp;China&nbsp;calling products from Micron&nbsp;Technology a national security risk is the latest escalation of tension between the big powers.
The United States and&nbsp;China&nbsp;have been tussling&nbsp;over&nbsp;a range of issues, from&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;to&nbsp;technology, drawing their allies into their rivalry and having an impact on companies and trade ties.
Following are five recent&nbsp;flashpoints.&nbsp;TECHNOLOGY
The United States has targeted Chinese companies across the&nbsp;technology sector, from export controls on semiconductor and artificial intelligence firms to a possible ban on short video app TikTok, owned by&nbsp;China's ByteDance, from the U.S. market.
The U.S. says it wants to stop key&nbsp;technologies from reaching&nbsp;China's military and has accused TikTok of being a security risk due to the&nbsp;user data it handles. The Chinese government and companies have denied the accusations.
Memory chip maker Micron became the first U.S.&nbsp;technology firm to be targeted by&nbsp;China, which barred key infrastructure makers from buying Micron products, citing national security.
The chair of a U.S. House of Representatives' committee on&nbsp;China&nbsp;said the U.S. should put trade curbs on Chinese memory chip maker Changxin Memory&nbsp;Technologies in response.
CONSULTANCIES
A Chinese crackdown on its consultancy and due diligence sector brought a raid on the Beijing office of U.S. due diligence firm Mintz, and the detention of five Chinese staff members.&nbsp;China&nbsp;said Mintz was suspected of engaging in unlawful business. Police later visited the Shanghai office of U.S. management consultancy Bain &amp; Co.
Washington called such incidents "inconsistent" with&nbsp;China's assertions it is opening its markets and is committed to a transparent regulatory framework.&nbsp;China's state media said it was "intensifying" protection of national security.
Authorities also targeted Shanghai-headquartered Capvision, which runs&nbsp;China's largest "expert network" group, accusing it of aiding&nbsp;overseas institutions to steal secrets in areas such as the military and&nbsp;technology. Capvision said it would abide by security rules and take the lead in ensuring the consulting industry was compliant.
TAIWAN
China&nbsp;has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure to force democratically governed&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;to accept Chinese sovereignty.&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;rejects&nbsp;China's claims.
While the United States has long followed a policy of "strategic ambiguity" on whether it would intervene militarily to protect&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;in the event of a Chinese attack, U.S. President Joe Biden has said he would be willing to&nbsp;use force to defend it.
SPYING, FOREIGN INFLUENCE
China&nbsp;is facing a backlash from the United States and other Western governments&nbsp;over&nbsp;its efforts to exert influence beyond its borders, including the&nbsp;use of secret 'police stations' that target dissidents and financial crime suspects.
China&nbsp;has disputed the existence of such facilities but has said there are volunteer-run centres abroad that help citizens renew documents and other services.
Washington and Beijing clashed in February after the U.S. shot down what it suspected was a Chinese spy balloon&nbsp;over&nbsp;U.S. airspace.&nbsp;China&nbsp;has said it was a civilian airship.
In May,&nbsp;China&nbsp;convicted a 78-year-old U.S. citizen and Hong Kong resident of espionage and jailed him for life. It did not give specifics of his offence.
RUSSIA/UKRAINE
The United States has said it is concerned by greater alignment between&nbsp;China&nbsp;and Russia and has accused&nbsp;China&nbsp;of considering providing weapons for Russia's war in Ukraine.
While&nbsp;China&nbsp;has stood by Russia, resisting Western pressure to isolate it, it denies any direct involvement in Ukraine and says it wants to promote a peaceful resolution.
This week,&nbsp;China&nbsp;and Russia responded furiously to a G7 summit that singled out both on a range of issues. Russia called the summit an "incubator" for anti-Russian and anti-Chinese hysteria.
&nbsp;
(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Robert Birsel)

you might like

Factbox-US-China tensions intensify over tech to Taiwan flashpoints