China Select Committee Turning Attention to Technology Security

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party held a hearing on technological competition between the U.S. and China last week to make the case for a more expansive federal response.

Committee Chair Mike Gallagher (R-WI) argued the U.S. should do more to restrict China’s access to the fruits of U.S.-funded R&D, saying, “We have a bucket with massive holes in the bottom and we’ve continued to pour billions and billions of R&D dollars into that bucket every year. We could plug the holes by enforcing export controls, ensuring appropriate research security safeguards, and enacting balanced outbound-capital restrictions.”

Shortly after the hearing, Gallagher and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) sent a letter to the Commerce Department urging it to tighten the semiconductor export controls targeting China that it implemented last October, arguing that “workarounds” for the controls have been exploited.

Republican members focused their remarks at the hearing on the case for tighter controls on commerce and research involving Chinese entities, while Democrats made a point of advocating for increasing science funding and making it easier for experts to immigrate to the United States.

Krishnamoorthi, who has sponsored legislation on the subject, remarked, “We must double down on our people, whether that’s advanced skills-based training and STEM education, or enhancing our legal immigration system, which is our number-one killer competitive advantage over the People’s Republic of China.”