Senators urge Trump administration to safeguard critical military from China

Donald TrumpA bipartisan group of more than two dozen Senators today urged the Trump administration to safeguard critical military and dualuse technology from China There can be no question that China seeks to surpass the US both economically and militarily and become the worlds foremost superpower and neither the federal government nor the private US companies should aid and abet that effort the senators wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim MattisAs such we implore you to reject any proposal to soften restrictions on the transfer to China of USmade military technologies and advanced dualuse technologies including semiconductors said the letter which among others was signed by Senators Chuck Schumer Marco Rubio Dianne Feinstein Susan Collins Sherrod Brown Mark Warner Ted Cruz Kamala Harris Chuck Grassley and John CornynWe urge you not to compromise lawful US enforcement actions against serial and premeditated violators of US law such as ZTE the lawmakers saidThey said it was particularly critical when the violators are stateowned and part and parcel of Chinas policies and practices designed to strengthen the countrys national security innovation base and essential tools of efforts to spread Chinas influence in other countries that pose national security threats to the USExport control and sanctions laws should not be negotiable because fidelity to the rule of law is a key part of what distinguishes the US from a country like China that is ruled by a Communist dictatorship the letter said To support its military modernisation the Senators argued China uses a variety of methods to acquire foreign military and dualuse technologiesSeveral cases emerged in 2016 of China using its intelligence services and employing other illicit approaches that violate US laws and export controls to obtain national security and exportrestricted technologies controlled equipment and other materials they saidClearly the Chinese Communist Party regards these sensitive technologies as essential for Chinas military modernisation and is accelerating its efforts to acquire such technologies through both legal and illegal means including cyber theft civilmilitary integration policies coercion through joint ventures with foreign companies targeted investment and exploitation of the access of private Chinese nationals to such technologies wrote the SenatorsWe must guard against such efforts and remain vigilant in protecting our national security innovation base they saidSpeaking on the Senate floor Senator Marco Rubio alleged that the Chinese statedirected telecommunications firms like ZTE pose a threat to the USIts time to wake up to this threat because we have two ways forward There can be a balanced relationship between two great powers leading to a world that is stable and secure in prosperity Or we can have an imbalanced world in which a rising power in China does so at the expense at the direct expense of a falling status quo power in the United States he saidRubio urged President Donald Trump to take this issue seriously listen carefully to those in his own administration who understand this threat holistically for what it isI urge them to move in a direction that recalibrates the structure of our relationship with China economically and that does not allow not just ZTE but numerous other telecom communications from continuing to grow and spy at our expense he saidCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever