Biden handcuffs Trump to dangerous China tech agreement
By
Tom Rogan
December 16, 2024 5:33 pm
.
President Joe Biden‘s administration just agreed to a five-year extension to the science and technology sharing agreement with China. Established by President Jimmy Carter, the agreement has attracted increasing scrutiny in recent years because of China’s endemic use of U.S. scientific knowledge to bolster its military and intelligence services.
Biden has made a bad decision by extending this agreement.
The main problem here is that China views its access to U.S. science and technology through the fixed prism of one key interest: specifically, how that knowledge can be employed to boost the power of the Chinese Communist Party. And that includes Beijing’s key concern of increasing China’s military power. China has used this agreement to manipulate otherwise civilian technologies for military and other nefarious purposes. While the State Department insists this extension comes with new safeguards to address these concerns, China’s malfeasant interest in using scientific engagement to undermine U.S. interests is long-standing and deeply problematic. At the margin, this agreement is contradictory to U.S. security interests.
Some members of Congress recognize as much. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, condemned the decision. He observed that “renewal of the STA in the final days of the administration is a clear attempt to tie the hands of the incoming administration and deny them the opportunity to either leave the agreement or negotiate a better deal for the American people.”
more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/3261327/biden-handcuffs-trump-to-china-tech-agreement/