A group of Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has requested that the Commerce Department disclose government-funded research that led to Chinese patents. They aim to highlight the risks they perceive in renewing a bilateral science and technology agreement with China.
The lawmakers, including six House members, want to use the data to assess the “national security damage” caused by the decades-old U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement, signed in 1979 and renewed every five years. With concerns over intellectual property theft and military use of civilian research, some lawmakers have urged the expiration of the agreement.
The lawmakers have written to Under Secretary of Commerce Kathi Vidal, requesting information on patents involving U.S. government-funded research and Chinese inventors since 2010. They seek to identify Chinese companies recruiting these inventors, their affiliations with the CCP’s military, and entities subject to U.S. export controls.
The letter was signed by Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.), Andy Barr (R-Ky.), Michelle Steel (R-Calif.), and Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.). The lawmakers are part of the House Select Committee on the CCP, which has previously raised concerns about the CCP leveraging the agreement for military advancements.
The lawmakers argue that continuing the agreement poses a threat to national security and intellectual property. They emphasize the need to understand the risks before renewing the U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement.
Both parties seem to be in agreement on that point.
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