Top minds appeal to Joe Biden to reboot US tech policy on China

‘Meeting the China Challenge’ report urges the new US administration to take a layered approach to risk control rather than pushing for total exclusion

Authors suggest specific measures against organisations aiding human rights abuses are better than restricting access to American AI

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A new report advises incoming US president Joe Biden that a total exclusion ban towards Chinese tech firms, including Huawei, is not feasible. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:00am, 18 Nov 2020Updated: 6:39am, 18 Nov 2020

A high-powered US working group has advised the incoming United States administration to reboot American tech policy to better counter the challenge from China.

The report comes amid discussions about how to fix flawed policies forged during four years of antagonism against China by President Donald Trump.

According to the report released on Monday, the US should invest more to stay ahead in fundamental research and dual-use technologies but it should also drop the “total exclusion” strategy towards Chinese technology firms, including Huawei Technologies, which have been blacklisted by the Trump administration.

The report – “Meeting the China Challenge: A New American Strategy for Technology Competition” – was released by the Working Group on Science and Technology in US-China Relations at the University of California San Diego’s school of global policy and strategy.

It said that by adopting a layered approach to risk control, the US could maximise security and manage any risk of spying and sabotage in 5G technology applications, including that by Huawei.

“As an alternative to radical decoupling, we propose a highly targeted approach to risk management modelled on our experience with cybersecurity,” it said.

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