China
Chinese Drone Manufacturer DJI is a New Target for Charges of ‘Industrial Espionage’ in Senate

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2019 – The Senate on Tuesday unleashed further criticism of Chinese technology players as witnesses told a Commerce subcommittee that unmanned aircraft systems are targets for “industrial espionage.”
One witness, Catherine Cahill of the Alaska Center for UAS Integration, said that the Chinese company DJI dominates the U.S. market for small, commercial UAS.
“DJI is the most cost-effective system available for many uses, including law enforcement, but the data from DJI UAS was automatically being sent back to the manufacturer in China,” she said. She was speaking at the Commerce Subcommittee on Security.
In a statement, DJI strongly disputed the allegations, and said that DJI does not share any data from a DJI drone back to the manufacturer.
At the hearing, Sen. Rick Scott, R-FL, stated that the Chinese government is “stealing” American trade secrets and “not opening up their markets.”
Part of the problem with the security of drones involves “looking at open source and invigorating our own market here in the United States,” said Harry Wingo, faculty at the National Defense University, in response to Scott’s comment.
“What we need to do is look at drones as infrastructure and consider a Manhattan Project-style investment because this relates to smart-driving cars and trucks, the Internet of things,, the internet of everything, really,” Wingo said.
However, Wingo also said that the Defense Department banned the use of DJI drones in the military.
“The Federal Aviation Administration considers cyber and data security risks and mitigations in every aspect of our mission, including as they apply to aircraft certification and systems as well as to protection of our own air navigation services infrastructure,” said Angela Stubblefield, the agency’s deputy associate administrator.
As with manned aviation, the FAA takes a “risk-based approach” regarding system and data protection regarding unmanned systems, she said.
Because of these data security issues, the FAA needs to “develop a holistic framework for detecting and mitigating UAS” and to put in place procedures for “how to respond to national security threats, which includes clarity about who has the authority to engage,” said Brian Wynne, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.
China has been “very clear that they want AI dominance over the next couple of years,” said Wingo. With their capabilities put together, this results in a “very damaging information set that puts the nation at risk.”
DJI Corporate Communications Director Adam Lisberg said: “The speculation about the security of DJI’s technology presented at today’s hearing is false. As a privately-held global technology company, DJI gives customers full and complete control over how their data is collected, stored, and transmitted. DJI drones do not share any data with DJI, over the internet, or in any other manner unless the operator deliberately chooses to do so. The security of our technology has been independently verified by the U.S. government, and our products meet all of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s data management recommendations.”
Editor’s Note, June 21, 2019: This story has been modified to reflect DJI’s denials of some testimony at the hearing, and to include a comment from their corporate spokesman.
(Photo of DJI drone from pxhere used with permission; photo of Senate subcommittee hearing by Masha Abarinova)
China
China Not Retaliating on U.S. Export Policy Out of Fear of Further Restrictions: Experts
China recognizes that it cannot produce all tech on its own, one expert said.

WASHINGTON, February 27, 2023 – China has no reason to retaliate against U.S. export controls because it might lead to more restrictions on products which would not be in the Chinese Communist Party’s interests, said the president of US-China Business Council at a web conference on Wednesday.
In October, the Commerce Department prohibited the exportation to China of certain high-functioning chips necessary for supercomputers and moved to prevent other countries from providing China with certain semiconductors made with American technology.
The Commerce Department also limited American citizens’ ability to work with Chinese chip facilities. The restrictions were billed as a national security imperative and designed to limit the development of next-generation, chip-dependent Chinese military technology.
At the same time, the U.S. raised concerns that China would retaliate.
“China has a good number of tools or legal tools, which they could retaliate, but that’s hard,” said Craig Allen, president of US-China Business Council, a non-profit that promotes trade between the two countries. “If they do retaliate, for example, against a chip company or manufacturing equipment company, a tool company, or another type of company, then that will lead to further restrictions on the inflow of technology and a product into China. And so, they have not found a way to retaliate, that suits their interest and I hope it stays that way.”
However, China also has remarkable speed and scale, Allen said. He considers China’s manufacturing speed and scale of accessing the market as “quite formidable.”
“Their dominance in the processing of rare earths, for example, is something that we should be concerned about,” according to Allen.
Other experts on the panel had similar opinions as well.
The most advanced artificial intelligence chips go into supercomputing and equipment for the production of semiconductors, according to Jimmy Goodrich, vice president of global policy at the Semiconductor Industry Association. The export control policy is limited to the “most cutting edge technology,” Goodrich said.
“The vast majority of chips don’t depend on and applications don’t depend on those advanced technologies,” said Goodrich. “Many of those are still unrestricted, because they’re ubiquitous, China has a lot more stronger domestic capability to produce them.”
But China may already be cognizant that development of chips is a globally integrated endeavor.
“It’s too complex, too global, too interdependent for one country to be able to produce all these technologies on their own,” Goodrich said, emphasizing the importance of multilateral approach. And that could be why, Goodrich added, China is hesitant to retaliate.
China
Commerce Official Calls for Partnerships with Global Allies in Tech Race with China
Improving competitiveness with China is becoming the top priority for Washington.

WASHINGTON, February 6, 2023 – Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves said an event late last month that the U.S. needs to build partnerships with other countries to tilt the balance in its favor against the technological influence of China.
“This is how we’re going to build U.S tech leadership, not with silver bullets, but step-by-step with government, business, educational institutions and communities all working together to create the conditions that will drive innovation, attract investment and grow quality middle class jobs,” said Graves at the Information Technology Industry Council’s tech and policy summit on January 31.
Graves addressed a concern that China has moved aggressively to establish a technological powerhouse “through massive government support for their own domestic industries, strategic use of capital to gain access to early stage, commercial tech” and allegedly through technology theft.
Graves said the Joe Biden administration understands the need for a different approach, a modern strategy that will focus on technology that provide innovation and job opportunities. He referred to a focus on computing-related technologies comprising chips, quantum and artificial intelligence and clean energy tech, that will reduce dependence on fossil fuels and protect against the costs of climate change.
The comments come after the House voted to establish a new committee to study the competitive landscape between China and the U.S. The Federal Communication Commission has already designated major Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE national security threats. In order to increase independence, President Biden has signed the Chips and Science Act into law in August last year that incentivizes the domestic manufacturing of key technologies, including semiconductors.
Sen. Todd Young, R-IN, one of the speakers at the event, called on Congress to be more united when it comes to the issues with China.
“We need to become more economically resilient,” Young said. “That means hardening our supply chains,” which he said can be done using the success of the Chips and Science Act.
“The administration’s theme that domestic policy is foreign policy is a good way to think about many things.”
China
New Leadership and Priorities for Republican-Led Energy and Commerce Committee
The new chair renamed three subcommittees, hinting at the GOP’s goals for the coming term.

WASHINGTON, January 27, 2023 — Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., recently named chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, announced on Wednesday the new Republican leadership and membership of each subcommittee, giving insight into which members of Congress will be at the forefront of key technology decisions over the coming term.
McMorris Rodgers also announced changes to the committee’s structure, renaming three subcommittees and shifting some of their responsibilities. The changes aim to “ensure our work tackles the greatest challenges and most important priorities of the day, including lowering energy costs, beating China and building a more secure future,” McMorris Rodgers told Fox News.
Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., D-N.J. — now the committee’s ranking member after serving as chair for the past four years — announced on Friday each subcommittee’s Democratic membership and leadership, and named Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., as the vice ranking member for the full committee.
Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., who will serve as the committee’s vice chair, is a vocal critic of Big Tech. In 2021, he was one of several Republicans who championed major reforms to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
The committee’s new names hint at some of the ways that the committee’s priorities may shift as Republicans take control. The former Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee is now titled the Innovation, Data and Commerce Subcommittee and will be chaired by Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., alongside Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.
Bilirakis and McMorris Rodgers have already announced the subcommittee’s first hearing, which will focus on U.S. global technology leadership and competition with China.
The Communications and Technology Subcommittee, now led by Chair Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Ranking Member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., also emphasized competition with China in the announcement of a hearing on the global satellite industry.
Latta has previously spoken out against the total repeal of Section 230, but he has also expressed concerns about the extent to which it protects tech companies. In an April 2021 op-ed written jointly with Bilirakis, Latta accused social media platforms of engaging in “poisonous practices… that drive depression, isolation and suicide.”
The Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Minerals Subcommittee, formerly known as the Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee, will be led by Chair Bill Johnson, R-Ohio and Ranking Member Paul Tonko, D-N.Y.
The Energy Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee, formerly known as the Energy Subcommittee, will be led by Chair Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., and Ranking Member Diana DeGette, D-Colo.
The Health Subcommittee will be led by Chair Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. The Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will be led by Chair Morgan Griffith, R-Va., and Ranking Member Kathy Castor, D-Fla.
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