Reject idea of a blanket ban on Chinese access to American tech, US senators urged
- US lawmakers told to bolster America’s strengths as an innovator and beacon for talent
- Hearing examined challenge to US competitiveness posed by Chinese hi-tech prowess
The United States should reject the idea of imposing an outright ban on China’s access to US technological expertise and instead bolster America’s long-time strengths as an innovator and beacon for top talent, a US Senate subcommittee was told on Thursday.
“Overreaching [via] a blanket ban, unwinding global supply chains and discrimination against individuals is not the answer,” Samm Sacks, cybersecurity policy and China digital economy fellow with the non-partisan New America think tank, testified at the Subcommittee on Security hearing, “China: Challenge for US Commerce”.
The hearing aimed to examine Washington’s possible responses to Beijing’s technology aspirations and the challenge China’s growing hi-tech prowess is seen as posing to American competitiveness.
Sacks – one of a number of technology specialists and analysts who testified before the panel, a subunit of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation – said the US government should “be selective about what technology is vital to national security but be aggressive in protecting it”.
The hearing comes as the US and other Western nations grow increasingly worried about China’s state-supported plans to become a world leader in technology, and with the US and China deep into a months-long tariff war.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has repeatedly accused Beijing of failing to play by international rules, citing its heavy subsidies for home-grown companies and policies it says are aimed at blocking US firms’ access to Chinese markets.