In an op-ed published this week, Congressman John Katko (R-NY) warned that China has been using our technology against us.
Katko addressed a hypersonic missile recently tested by China, noting that “few stopped to question exactly how China got its hands on this technology.”
“For years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has sought to undermine American intellectual property by targeting our academic institutions, conducting cyber espionage, and forcing the transfer of technology,” Katko wrote. “In a clear escalation of this malign behavior, the hypersonic weapon tested recently by the PRC appears to have been created in part with American technology obtained through a variety of shady business deals and technology transfer schemes.”
“The capabilities gap between China and the United States is closing every day, and we cannot afford to stand on the sidelines,” he warned. “America remains a global superpower because of our unmatched ability to innovate. When American research and development is compromised, it threatens our economic and national security. That’s why I’m gravely concerned about our academic research being exfiltrated and repurposed by adversarial nations.”
Katko explained that “the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is actively engaging Chinese students and researchers prior to their arrival at U.S. institutions and encouraging them to carry out specific missions.”
“While these types of foreign espionage campaigns have been happening for decades, the stakes with China are now simply too high for inaction,” Katko added. “In 2020, a Chinese professor at the University of California, Los Angeles was convicted of shipping banned missile technology back to China. A Chinese student at Chicago’s Illinois Institute of Technology was charged last year with helping to recruit spies for the Chinese intelligence services. And a Chinese professor conducting sensitive research at the University of Kansas was indicted in August 2020 on charges that he concealed his ties to a Chinese university.”
The Congressman noted, “Since 2019, eight Chinese nationals have been charged with visa fraud, grant fraud or both. In 2020, more than 1,000 Chinese researchers in the U.S. were found to have hidden their affiliation with the Chinese military. In 2021, the Department of Justice levied indictments against Chinese nationals for concealing their affiliation with the CCP.”
Katko then proposed “two specific improvements to our visa process to help safeguard against those with malicious intent and protect the integrity of our system for those who wish to come for honest purposes.”
“First, we should reduce the time period on tourist visas provided to Chinese nationals,” he wrote. “The current 10-year visas are ripe for abuse, and a more reasonable time frame would allow for greater visibility into who is entering the country and why.”
“Second, we should fully implement U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS) for student and researcher F1, J1, and M visas,” he added. “Enrollment in this web-based system, which is already required for those on tourism and business visas, would give us a better understanding of who is in our country, what they are studying, and where they are conducting research. Currently, none of this information is updated after a visa is initially issued – undoubtedly creating blind spots and vulnerabilities.”
Katko’s warnings come as China has been acting increasingly aggressive. Over the summer, China’s communist dictator Xi Jinping called for the Communist country to accelerate strengthening its military and indicated that China intends to invade Taiwan.
“We must accelerate the modernization of national defense and the armed forces. A strong country must have a strong military, as only then can it guarantee the security of the nation,” Xi said in a speech celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, later adding, “Resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China’s complete reunification is a historic mission and an unshakable commitment of the Communist Party of China. We must take resolute action to utterly defeat any attempt toward ‘Taiwan independence.’”
In June, experts warned that it appeared China is working to “accelerate their modernization programs to develop capabilities to seize Taiwan” by 2027. A week later, the Washington Post reported that China was adding more than 100 new missile silos.
“The 119 nearly identical construction sites contain features that mirror those seen at existing launch facilities for China’s arsenal of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles,” The Washington Post reported. “The acquisition of more than 100 new missile silos, if completed, would represent a historic shift for China, a country that is believed to possess a relatively modest stockpile of 250 to 350 nuclear weapons.”
As Katko explained in his op-ed, “The great powers’ competition between the U.S. and China will determine the future of the world as we know it. From exploiting U.S. academic institutions, to its military buildup in the South China Sea, to debt-trap diplomacy, to its genocide of the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang province, the CCP has shown it will stop at nothing to achieve its geopolitical goals.”
