WH mulling new PRC export controls on quantum computing & AI, US says Xi likely to attack Taiwan sooner than predictions & Europe begins “collective rethink” on China -- China Boss News 10.24.22
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Biden mulling new bans on China’s access to quantum computing, AI
Bloomberg last week reported that White House officials are “exploring the possibility of new export controls” on the emerging technologies of quantum computing and artificial intelligence. Restrictions under discussion would be designed to “limit China’s access” to American technology, Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg:
The potential plans, which are in an early stage, are focused on the still-experimental field of quantum computing, as well as artificial intelligence software, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing private deliberations. Industry experts are weighing in on how to set the parameters of the restrictions on this nascent technology, they said.
The efforts, if implemented, would follow separate restrictions announced earlier this month aimed at stunting Beijing’s ability to deploy cutting-edge semiconductors in weapons and surveillance systems.
China Boss has noticed an increase in official frustration with China's ability to procure US technology used to boost its military strength for a possible attack on Taiwan and to abuse the rights of dissenters in Hong Kong and ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Last week, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner gave Apple and Tesla, two U.S. tech giants, a dressing down on their disregard for ESG principles in China while upholding the same at home. At the same time, the senator “reiterated past calls to get the US off an over-reliance on Chinese supply chains,” Bloomberg said.
Not one to mince words, Warner “said a blockade of Taiwan by China would be ‘an economic catastrophe’” and that “‘[i]f China dominates a series of the technology domains they could run the table.’” Afterwards, he “predicted additional legislative action on the issue, including on synthetic biology, advanced energy, quantum computing and other emerging technologies.” Emphasis added.
In remarks last month at the Special Competitive Studies Project Global Emerging Technologies Summit, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also emphasized the role of “computing-related technologies, including microelectronics, quantum information systems and artificial intelligence,” saying they are “set to play an outsized importance over the coming decade.”
Jake Sullivan, Speech, September 16, 2022:
Looking forward, we are making progress in formulating an approach to address outbound investments in sensitive technologies, particularly investments that would not be captured by export controls and could enhance the technological capabilities of our competitors in the most sensitive areas.
And we worked closely with Congress to ensure the CHIPS Act contains robust guardrails that prevent companies that receive taxpayer money from turning around and making investments in China that undermine our national security.
Emphasis added.
Looking forward . . . China Boss would hazard a guess that the writing is on the wall for any U.S. company or foreign firm commercially linked to China’s military and surveillance procurement. The arrival of additional rules is a question of “when,” and “to what effect,” not “if.”
For the rest of Bloomberg’s report, US Eyes Expanding China Tech Ban to Quantum Computing and AI, click here. For a transcript of Jake Sullivan’s speech, click here. For Bloomberg’s update on Senator Warner’s comments pertaining to Apple & Tesla, Senate’s Warner Scolds Apple, Tesla for ‘Blind Eye’ Toward China, click here.
Law and International Xi
US Secretary of State, Navy Chief say China speeding up plans to seize Taiwan
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken believes China is “speeding up plans to seize Taiwan,” the Washington Post reported.
WaPo:
“There has been a change in the approach from Beijing toward Taiwan in recent years,” Blinken told an event at Stanford University on Monday.
This includes “a fundamental decision that the status quo was no longer acceptable and that Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline,” he said. Blinken did not provide details about the claim of a shorter timeline and said China may be willing to use coercive means, a prospect that is “creating tremendous tensions.”
Blinken’s ominous assessment came two days before Admiral Mike Gilday, chief of U.S. naval operations, “warned that the American military must be prepared for the possibility of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan before 2024,” according to the Financial Times. In a discussion at the Atlantic Council, Gilday said that “the US had to consider that China could take action against Taiwan much sooner than even the more pessimistic warnings.”
FT:
The debate in the US about when China might invade Taiwan has intensified since Admiral Philip Davidson, then-head of Indo-Pacific Command, told Congress last year that the Chinese military could take action against Taiwan before 2027. Davidson’s warning was partly downplayed at the time, but officials have intensified their warnings over the past year.
“When we talk about the 2027 window, in my mind that has to be a 2022 window or potentially a 2023 window,” Gilday told the Atlantic Council on Wednesday. “I don’t mean at all to be alarmist . . . it’s just that we can’t wish that away.”
For the rest of WaPo’s report, China plans to seize Taiwan on ‘much faster timeline,’ Blinken says, click here. For Financial Times’ report on Admiral Gilday’s comments, US Navy chief warns China could invade Taiwan before 2024, click here.
UK probes PRC Consul-General’s role in assault on protesters in Manchester
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