U.S. government has been asked by the two Senators to quickly form regulations to make the export of sophisticated technologies harder to China. Republican Senator Tom Cotton and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer on Monday urged the government fearing use of those technologies by Beijing for improvement of its military capabilities.
The letter written by the two senators was addressed to Wilbur Ross, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, as the Commerce Department has been assigned the task by a 2018 law to formulate rules to get more of the control over the export of advanced technologies.
To begin with the process of drafting regulations, in November 2018, the Commerce Department sought public comment on ways to design best rules around so-called emerging technology, which could cover cutting-edge technologies like from biotechnology to artificial intelligence.
But even after the lapse of one year, the agency still has to propose any regulations and also not yet sought any input on ways to control exports of so-called “foundational technologies” that are essential for making cutting-edge products.
We are aware of the technical challenges agency has been facing evaluating cutting-edge technologies, but in order to prevent these technologies from being coming to the hands of military competitors of our country, it is very important that department should act faster making rules around those technologies, Schumer and Cotton wrote.
The Department of Commerce confirmed the receiving of that letter and said that lawmaking is an ongoing process and numbers of proposed rules are in review process at the Department, said the spokesman of Commerce Department.
Schumer and Cotton wrote that China was acquiring American technology to be used for military as well as civilian purposes, which involves some harmless applications that are easier to acquire but have potential of being used in the fields of defense and warfare.
