Commentary
The U.S. Select Committee on the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) sent a letter on June 27 to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, calling on the Biden administration to not renew the Science and Technology Agreement (STA) with communist China, which is set to expire on Aug. 27, on the grounds that the CCP is using U.S. technological help and exchanges to bolster Chinese military capabilities.
The letter reads: “The United States must stop fueling its own destruction. Letting the STA expire is a good first step.”
According to a State Department report on the STA, numerous U.S. government agencies have funded research by or cooperated with Chinese entities, including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior, the Department of State, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Under the STA, in 2018, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cooperated with the China Meteorological Administration to launch balloons used to study the atmosphere.
A number of U.S. government agencies, universities, and research facilities are still conducting sensitive research in partnership with China. Between 2017 and 2021, U.S. government agencies provided $48 million in research funding directly to Chinese entities. Among the many programs paid for by U.S. taxpayers was a coronavirus research project in Wuhan, China, funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
In addition to these overt programs, the CCP uses various covert means of obtaining U.S. technology, including research partnerships, talent acquisition programs, joint ventures, corporate acquisitions, and various other initiatives. In 2018, the Trump administration launched a China Initiative to investigate and guard against CCP theft of U.S. technology. The Department of Justice (DOJ) wrote in a November 2021 report that about 80 percent of all economic espionage prosecutions brought by the DOJ “allege conduct that would benefit the Chinese state, and there is at least some nexus to China in around 60 percent of all trade secret theft cases.”
In 2022, the Biden administration ended the China Initiative because the White House felt that the policy was equivalent to racial profiling. According to FBI Director Christopher Wray, the bureau had more than 2,000 open China-related cases by then, with a new one being opened every 12 hours. While many saw the termination of the China Initiative as a tremendous blow to U.S. efforts to prevent China from stealing technology, other programs restricting the CCP are in place and gaining momentum.
Under former President Donald Trump and continuing under President Joe Biden, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has been given greater authority to investigate and block Chinese investment in the United States, while the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security has increasingly been scrutinizing and limiting U.S. exports and investment in China. In June, the Commerce Department blacklisted firms that were selling U.S. technology related to hypersonic missiles to companies tied to the People’s Liberation Army. Additionally, the department regularly adds Chinese companies to the Entity List.
Chinese entities, including universities and research facilities, have been added to that list. U.S. companies are restricted from exporting certain advanced technologies to listed entities. They also may not cooperate with or fund research by these entities. According to the Commerce Department, companies are added to the list for stealing or attempting to steal U.S. technology or for “acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”
The House Ways and Means Committee is also conducting investigations related to China-based funding. One U.S. institution that has come under scrutiny is the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania, which received $54 million from China. The committee has also sent letters to 15 U.S. universities asking about the funding that they’ve received from China.
Although some progress has been made, U.S. money continues to flow into Chinese entities. At present, 27 Chinese laboratories, including some connected to the CCP, are still eligible for U.S. government funding. Given the obvious threat that the CCP poses to the United States and the low opinion most Americans have of the regime, it’s likely that voters would be outraged to know that any portion of their salary is being provided to the CCP.
Halting the Science and Technology Agreement would be a step in the right direction. However, Article 11 of the agreement contains some concerning language: “The termination of this Agreement shall not affect the validity or duration of any implementing accords made under it.” Effectively, this means that even if the United States cancels the overall program, ongoing projects may continue.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
