WASHINGTON: For over 40 years, a landmark agreement between the United States and China has yielded cooperation across a range of scientific and technical fields, a powerful sign that the rivals could set aside their disputes and work together.
Now with bilateral relations in their worst state in decades, a debate is underway within the US government about whether to let the US-China Science and Technology Agreement (STA) expire later this year, three officials familiar with the discussions said.
With Antony Blinken in Beijing on the first visit by a secretary of state in five years and expectations low for any bilateral breakthrough, the debate over the oldest US-China bilateral cooperation accord mirrors a bigger question dividing policy makers: Do the benefits to the US of engaging with China outweigh the risk of empowering a competitor who may play by different rules?
The agreement, signed when Beijing and Washington established diplomatic ties in 1979 and renewed about every five years since, has been hailed as a stabilising force for the countries’ relations, with collaboration in areas from atmospheric and agricultural science to basic research in physics and chemistry. It laid the foundation for a boom in academic and commercial exchanges.
Those exchanges helped China grow into a technology and military powerhouse, but concerns about Beijing’s theft of US scientific and commercial achievements have prompted questions about whether the agreement – set to expire on Aug 27 – should continue.
Proponents of renewing the STA argue that ending it would stifle academic and commercial cooperation.
While the dominant US view appears to be in favour of renewal, a growing contingent of officials and lawmakers believe cooperating on science and technology makes less sense given competition between the countries, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
“Extending the Science and Technology Agreement between the US and China would only further jeopardise our research and intellectual property,” said Representative Mike Gallagher, the Republican chair of a congressional select committee on China. “The administration must let this outdated agreement expire.”
The State Department declined to comment on “internal deliberations on negotiations”. The National Security Council also declined to comment.
China’s embassy in Washington said Chinese officials had approached the US a year ago to talk about the deal, which it said formed the basis for 40 years of “fruitful” cooperation.
“As far as we know, the US side is still conducting an internal review on the renewal of the agreement,” embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said, adding that both sides could consider adjustments to the original deal.
“It is hoped that the US side will expedite the internal review before the expiration of the agreement,” he said.