New China Worries: The Chinese Military Is Snapping Up the Latest in Cutting-Edge Western Technology. Is That Good?

Segal, Adam, The International Economy

In June of this year, the U.S. Commerce Department published new controls on the export of "dual-use" technology to China. As Assistant Secretary of Commerce Christopher A. Padilla told Congress, the goal is "to expand and promote legitimate civilian trade, while prudently hedging against the uncertainties of a significant military expansion program in China." While the new rules deserve praise for their explicit focus on the types of technologies that are most likely to make a contribution to Chinese military capabilities, their impact is limited by the uncomfortable truth that the United States can no longer control transfer of most of these technologies in an integrated world economy.

From the U.S. perspective, China is the poster child for the double-edged nature of the globalization of technology. More countries, not just China, now have access to the technologies that underpin a modern military. China, however, is engaged in a concerted effort to modernize its military, and defense spending has increased at a double digit rate for the last fifteen years. Most visibly, destroyers, fighter jets, and submarines have been bought, primarily from Russia. According to the Pentagon, though, China is also an active buyer of information technology, microelectronics, aerospace, and other commercial technologies that can be adopted for military purposes. Few of these technologies are unique to the United States, and the People's …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: New China Worries: The Chinese Military Is Snapping Up the Latest in Cutting-Edge Western Technology. Is That Good?. Contributors: Segal, Adam - Author. Magazine title: The International Economy. Volume: 21. Issue: 4 Publication date: Fall 2007. Page number: 70+. © 2009 International Economy Publications, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.