US advisory panel signals support for screening investments in Chinese tech
- US-China Economic and Security Review Commission says reviews should concern stakes in technologies that might aid military
- Restrictions already involve semiconductors ‘but there’s countless more work worth doing in this area’, a witness says
A US government advisory panel showed support on Thursday for screening investments in China to curb the country’s military capability.
The panel, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), cautioned that such screening would need to target particular technologies, as Beijing makes progress in matching America’s weapons systems.
Witnesses appearing before the commission in a hearing in Washington also warned that China’s sprawling manufacturing base helps make up for some of its weaknesses in military technology development.
“It is … inappropriate for US venture capital investors or other types of investors to be making large investments in China’s AI sector without some kind of review for whether or not that work is going to be end up supporting the Chinese national security establishment and the Chinese military establishment,” said Gregory Allen, an AI specialist at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Allen was responding to a question by USCC commissioner Jacob Helberg concerning “how urgently the White House should carry out an executive order or the Congress should push through a bill to restrict outbound capital flows to China”.
