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Republican lawmakers are criticizing the Biden administration’s imposition of restrictions on China’s access to American technology, saying the administration is still allowing semiconductors and other American innovation to flow to Beijing that could ultimately lead to military conflict with China. Can help.
In a report released Thursday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee said the administration has failed to enforce export controls that limit the sale of advanced technology to China. The federal government has been steadily increasing limits on sales of advanced chips and chip-making equipment to China over the past few years. The United States has also imposed sanctions on Chinese companies or organizations accused of aiding the Chinese military or Russia’s war efforts or participating in human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
But Republican lawmakers said the administration has not done enough to enforce the rules and criticized the office in charge of export controls. The report faulted the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security for being too close to the technology industries it regulates. Many tech companies sell products and services to China and have pushed for more liberal regulations to maintain access to the large and growing market.
Specifically, the report said the administration has granted a number of special licenses allowing U.S. companies to export restricted products to China, in some cases issuing waivers over the objections of defense and intelligence officials.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Industry and Security said the Biden administration has been thoughtful and forceful in expanding the sanctions, and has added more than 1,100 parties to the restricted trade list, including more than 300 firms and organizations in China. ,
The spokesperson said the Department is continually assessing and updating its export controls, and looks forward to reviewing the report and working with Members of Congress to achieve national security objectives.
Semiconductor companies have opposed the sanctions, saying overly broad controls could push China to develop its own technology and ultimately undermine U.S. industry leadership.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said at a defense forum on Saturday that the administration is “building a more robust Commerce Department” to confront China, including issuing “historic controls” that for the first time specifically exempted an entire country. Have been deprived of technologies.
But he argued that his department was in dire need of funding to accomplish that mission. The Bureau of Industry and Security still has the same budget as it did a decade ago. We have double the number of licensing requests. I get calls all the time from members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans: ‘Why aren’t you doing more?'” Ms. Raimondo said.
“I agree with you. My budget is $200 million. That’s like the cost of a few fighter planes,” he said. “Fund this operation the way it needs to be funded so we can do what we need Needs to be done to protect America.”
But several Republican lawmakers said Tuesday they would block the funding increase unless the department changes its practices and moves forward with additional sanctions on Chinese companies like telecommunications giant Huawei. He cited government data showing that the agency had approved sales of $60 billion in US technology to Huawei over a six-month period in 2020 and 2021.
Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, “Any conversation about additional resources must be matched by actions that demonstrate that the BIS is being reformed into a true national security agency that deters China and other adversaries.” She’ll do whatever needs to be done to compete.” and two other Republican lawmakers said in a statement.
The congressional report recommended several major changes, including giving Defense Department officials more authority in approving special licenses to supply technology to China.
A House aide said the committee will begin working as early as next week on crafting legislation and seeking bipartisan support for the changes. The committee will hold a hearing next Tuesday with Biden administration officials who oversee export controls.
The Biden administration recently restricted the export to China of an entire class of cutting-edge semiconductors used to create artificial intelligence, as well as the equipment to manufacture those chips. The administration also extended its regulations beyond the regional level, regulating products that use American technology but are manufactured outside the United States.
But critics say Biden officials have not gone far enough to rein in some of China’s most advanced companies, such as Huawei or server make Inspur.
In the past year, the Biden administration had considered restricting special licenses that allowed U.S. companies to continue supplying some goods to Huawei, but that effort was halted this spring, according to people familiar with the matter. Because it worked to improve relations with the Chinese government. Case.
At a briefing in November, a State Department official said the administration had decided that lifting the sanctions was an appropriate step to secure a deal on fentanyl that could save thousands of American lives.
The battle over the Bureau of Industry and Security, previously a relatively obscure agency, has grown more intense as its responsibilities have expanded in recent years, including preventing U.S. technology from reaching adversaries in China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. also includes.
Gregory Allen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that, compared with those of other governments, the bureau’s capabilities were impressive. But demand for the bureau increased after Russia invaded Ukraine and the Biden administration imposed controls on China.
The bureau was understaffed, Mr. Allen said, and its technology and databases were outdated.
“From my perspective, this is unacceptable,” he said. “The United States has placed export controls at the center of technology and national security policy. We need that ability to be incredibly strong.”
