The Chinese government called on the United States to renew a 44-year-old bilateral science and technology cooperation agreement ahead of US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo’s four-day visit to Beijing, scheduled to begin this Sunday.
The China-US Science and Technology Agreement, signed by then-US president Jimmy Carter and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1979, has so far allowed American and Chinese scientists to work together through almost 100 protocols and annexes.
The agreement has been renewed every five years since its inception. It is set to expire on August 27.
In late June, Mike Gallagher, Republican chairman of the Select Committee on the Strategy Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party, and nine other Republican lawmakers wrote an open letter opposing the renewal of the agreement over national security concerns.
The US State Department said Wednesday (August 23) it is seeking a six-month extension to the agreement with certain amendments. The Chinese commentariat is building up the importance of what is being framed as a crucial Biden administration decision.
Xiao Zuo, a Hebei-based columnist, says in an article that whether the China-US Science and Technology Agreement is renewed will be a key indicator of the state of bilateral relations.
Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to the US, said on July 20 that renewal of the agreement could be a small step toward injecting more positive energy into bilateral relations. On Tuesday, he met with Raimondo in Washington to discuss Sino-US economic and trade ties ahead of her visit to China.
“China’s policy toward the US is consistent. Our fundamental guidance are the three principles outlined by President Xi Jinping: mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation,” Xie said according to news reports.
“We are living in a turbulent world. Global recovery remains sluggish and crises keep popping up. China and the US share the same planet and the same sky,” he said. “As all are in the same boat, no one can stay aloof, still less profit at others’ expense. The only right way forward is to pull together.”
He called on “the US side to work with China in the same direction, make the list of cooperation longer and shorten the negative list, so as to make joint efforts to stabilize China-US relations,” according to a Chinese Embassy statement on the meeting.
It said: “Both sides viewed the meeting as in-depth, pragmatic and constructive, and agreed to maintain communication.”
But more tech war clouds are on the horizon. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that US-sanction Chinese telecom giant Huawei is receiving an estimated US$30 billion in state funding for secretive chip production. It said the Biden administration is monitoring the situation and ready to take action.
According to the report, the Washington-based Semiconductor Industry Association found that Huawei is constructing facilities under the names of other companies and indirectly purchasing American chip-making equipment in order to bypass US sanctions, a damning allegation if true. The association said its report was based on public source news reports.
Secretary Raimondo received a unilateral invitation from Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao for her visit to Beijing, unlike the previous trips of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, which were decided by both the Chinese and US sides.
Raimondo said Tuesday she looks forward to constructive discussions on issues relating to the US-China commercial relationship, challenges faced by US businesses and areas for potential cooperation.
In a potential sign of a thaw, the US Commerce Department on Monday removed 27 Chinese companies from its Unverified List following successful end-use checks, a decision welcomed by Beijing.
The Chinese commentariat was less enthusiastic, with many influential columnists calling for a full cancellation of US chip and tech export controls on China.
“Over the past many years, the US has imposed more than 700 punitive measures on China. And now it removes 27 firms from the Unverified List. It shows that Raimondo is willing to have real talks with China, or even ask for help, in her trip,” a Hubei-based columnist says in an article published on Wednesday.
“But this approach is inferior and cheap. The US sanctioned China without any reasons to create bargaining chips and force China to negotiate with it,” he says. “This is no different from blackmail and extortion. Should Chinese people feel thankful after being robbed?”
“The removal of Chinese firms from the Unverified List is not meaningful. Those on the Unverified List have kept doing businesses with American firms, though with some additional costs and risks,” says Liu Yong, a military writer in Hubei. “Now they are removed from the list. It is no doubt a friendly move but this is too little.”
Liu says although China welcomes Raimondo’s visit, he remains doubtful about whether the US side will really accept Beijing’s demands. He says the so-called sweeteners from Washington are so far like some “virtual date fruits” that do not benefit China.
After Yellen’s visit to Beijing last month, the Biden administration announced on August 9 milder-than-expected investment curbs against China’s high-tech sectors. The curbs will only target China’s semiconductor, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing sectors, but not biotechnology and clean energy and will not take effect until 2024.
On August 16, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger and former undersecretary of defense for policy Colin Kahl sent a letter to US Congress leaders saying that Biden’s investment curbs against China are a “positive step in the overdue process of limiting adversaries’ access to American capital.”
“The US must ensure that [China] and other foreign adversaries aren’t able to use our financial dynamism and openness against us in ways that continue to threaten our national security and prosperity,” they wrote in the letter seen by Reuters. The duo called on Congress to commit sufficient resources to implement the curbs.
“Both the senders and receivers of the letter want to build up their ‘anti-China’ image,” says Guan Yao, a Shenzhen TV commentator. “If Pottinger and Kahl want to follow up the implementation of the investment curbs, why don’t they send their letter to Raimondo or Yellen?”
“The United States’s call to de-risk from and compete with China is a government-driven national strategy, and it is a long-term movement,” Guan says.
“The Trump administration targeted Chinese firms such as Huawei. Now the Biden administration hits the entire high technology industries in China. We must have a clear understanding, adhere to the bottom-line thinking (prepare for the worst), and should not have any unrealistic illusions and misjudgments,” he wrote
He suggests although it’s unlikely the US will ease its chip export controls, the US and China can open dialogue on cooperation on the fast-moving AI sector.
Earlier this month, Blinken told the media that the Biden administration is already discussing AI norms with private companies and international regulators. “At some point, in some way, China will need to be part of that conversation,” Blinken said, adding that he discussed the issue with Chinese officials while he was in Beijing in June.
Read: US friend-shoring becoming China’s export enemy
Follow Jeff Pao on Twitter at @jeffpao3