A photo taken on May 1, 2022 shows a container vessel docking at the Qianwan Container Terminal in Qingdao, east China's Shandong province. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Tuesday announced a decision to tighten the control over the export of relevant dual-use items to the United States, to safeguard national security and interests and fulfill non-proliferation and other international obligations.

According to a statement on the MOC's website, the export of dual-use items to U.S. military users or for military purposes is prohibited.

In principle, the export of dual-use items related to gallium, germanium, antimony and superhard materials to the United States is not to be permitted, while stricter examinations on end-users and end-use purposes are to be conducted regarding exports of the dual-use item of graphite to the United States, according to the statement.

This announcement comes into effect as of the date of publication, according to the MOC.

Any organization or individual from any country or region that, in violation of the above provisions, transfers or provides relevant dual-use items originating in the People's Republic of China to the United States will be held legally responsible, the statement said.

Dual-use items mean goods, technologies and services that may be used for either civil or military purposes or to contribute to an increase in military potential, especially to design, develop, produce or use weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.

The decision was made in accordance with Chinese laws including the Export Control Law of the People's Republic of China, an MOC spokesperson said Tuesday in a reply to a media query on the latest move.

"In recent years, the United States has overstretched the concept of national security, politicized and weaponized economic and technological issues, abused export control measures, arbitrarily restricted the export of relevant products to China, and put a number of Chinese companies on the sanctions list to suppress and contain them," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the U.S. practices seriously undermine international trade rules, the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, as well as the stability of global industrial and supply chains.

Noting that the Chinese government is firmly committed to promoting high-standard opening-up and opposes any erroneous generalization of the concept of national security, the spokesperson said China is ready to strengthen dialogue on export control with relevant countries and regions to jointly promote the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains.