U.S. Senators want Commerce Dept to list tech to keep away from China
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[June 16, 2021] By
David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A group of 10
Republican U.S. senators on Tuesday urged Commerce Secretary Gina
Raimondo to direct her department to work faster to identify new
American technologies that China's government could misuse if exported
to that country.
The letter led by Senator Tom Cotton and seen by Reuters urged the
department to identify "emerging and foundational technologies" as
required under a 2018 law.
"We remain concerned that U.S. businesses export sensitive technologies
to ostensibly civilian Chinese firms or accept investment from them only
for these Chinese firms to promptly hand over this technology to the
Chinese military or intelligence services," said the letter that was
also signed by Marco Rubio, John Cornyn, Ben Sasse, Rick Scott and Todd
Young.
The letter from the senators said Commerce has only produced "a limited
set of controlled emerging technologies ...So long as these lists remain
incomplete and underutilized, the federal government will lack a
properly functioning export control system and foreign investment
screening process."
The letter added that "leaves the United States unacceptably vulnerable
to China's economic predation."
A U.S. congressional advisory report this month said Commerce was
failing to do its part to protect national security and keep sensitive
technology out of the hands of China's military.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report said
Commerce had been slow to create a list of sensitive technology that
should be scrutinized before export to China.
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U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaks during a high speed
internet event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building's South
Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 3,
2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
The Commerce Department said Tuesday in response because "innovation is not
static and technology triggering national security concerns can evolve over
time, the goal to identify these technologies will be a continuous effort and
will not be an objective that is 'finished' or 'complete'".
Commerce noted it has issued four rules on controls on emerging technologies and
more are pending. It noted it expanded the military end user rule and added
companies to its entity list restricting U.S. suppliers from selling to
companies like Huawei Technologies and Hangzhou Hikvision.
In November 2018, Commerce published 45 examples of emerging technologies,
including face and voice recognition, but no list was ever finalized. It has not
yet proposed a list of so-called "foundational" technologies as required that
year when Congress tightened export policies and the process for screening
foreign investment.
At that time, Chinese entities were trying to obtain sensitive U.S. technology
and use civilian innovation for the military. The law directed Commerce to work
with other agencies to identify emerging, or cutting edge, technologies and
so-called foundational technologies essential to making vital items like
semiconductors.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Michael Perry)
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