02 June 2020

US closes visa gap to check technology flows to Chinese military

The United States has introduced measures to limit the flow of technology and knowhow from US education and research institutes to the Chinese military-industrial complex and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The move is linked directly with the Chinese government’s long-standing policy – known as civil-military integration (CMI) or military-civil fusion – to achieve military technology advancement by leveraging advanced commercial capabilities in areas such as aerospace and electronics.

China’s civil-military integration policy is intended to support the development of capabilities including unmanned systems such as this AV500W, which is based on a civilian platform and was developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

The US Department of State said in a statement on 1 June that a proclamation by President Donald Trump will limit the PLA’s ability to “use non-immigrant visa programmes to illicitly acquire US technologies and intellectual property (IP)”. The new ruling applies to ‘F’ visa (non-immigrant student) and ‘J’ (non-immigrant exchange).

The State Department said that while the Trump administration wants to achieve a reciprocal relationship with China, “we will not tolerate [Chinese] attempts to illicitly acquire American technology and IP from our academic institutions and research facilities for Chinese military ends”.

According to the statement, the proclamation suspends the entry into the US of any Chinese national seeking an ‘F’ or ‘J’ visa to “study or conduct research… where the individual’s academic or research activities are likely to support a [Chinese] entity that implements and supports the Chinese Communist Party’s ‘military-civil fusion’ strategy”.

The State Department added, “This action will help safeguard US national and economic security interests and the productivity and security of the US research enterprise.”

The United States has introduced measures to limit the flow of technology and knowhow from US educat...

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