Bill to set up US research centre translating open-source China materials unveiled by lawmakers

Bipartisan group supports addressing ‘strategic disadvantage’ and understanding adversaries who pose ‘serious threat to American national security’

Open Translation Centre tasked with training analysts and linguists comes amid challenges getting accurate information out of China

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The US Capitol in Washington, where the House bill was introduced on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 5:17am, 12 Apr 2024Updated: 6:03am, 12 Apr 2024

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced a bill on Thursday that would establish a research centre charged with creating publicly accessible English translations of open-source materials from China.

The initiative, to be known as the Open Translation Centre, would also train analysts and linguists to specialise in China and other countries, a full list of which will be determined later.

“The United States can’t afford to be in a position where our competitors know more about us than we know about them,” said Democratic congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, the bill’s sponsor.

“For generations, Congress supported open-source translation programmes that helped Americans understand both our allies and our adversaries. As our investment in those programmes [has] declined, countries like China and Russia have accelerated their own – putting us at a strategic disadvantage,” he continued.

Analysts at the OTC will be tasked with translating and interpreting official and semi-official reports, speeches and journals, in addition to news and commentary.