Members of the European Parliament approved a resolution last week calling on the EU to expand sanctions against Russia, Belarus, and non-EU countries and entities providing Russia with military and dual-use technologies.
Exports to China
The top lawmaker on the House Select Committee on China called on the U.S. to continue imposing strict export controls and investment restrictions against China, adding that those tools must be coupled with bolder investments in innovative American companies if the U.S. wants to “win” its technology competition with China.
Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told a congressional panel Sept. 18 that he will look into the possibility of expanding the export control exemptions that the State Department intends to grant to Australia and the U.K. under the AUKUS security partnership.
The U.S. recently unsealed a pair of indictments, one against Russian national Denis Postovoy and the other against Chinese national Song Wu, for national security-related offenses. Postovoy is accused of conspiring to commit export control violations by shipping microelectronic components with military applications from the U.S. to Russia, while Song is charged with fraud and identity theft related to efforts to obtain confidential or proprietary software from government agencies, research universities and private companies.
The next U.S. presidential administration will face a host of emerging technology issues in international trade, including advanced computing chips, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data centers, quantum and telecommunications infrastructure, said Nazak Nikakhtar, a Wiley Rein partner and a former acting Bureau of Industry and Security undersecretary.
Congress should consider encouraging greater use of export controls and sanctions to counter a recent surge in the repression of political dissent abroad, hearing witnesses told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week.
Chinese and Dutch government officials met in China this week to discuss export restrictions as part of the fifth round of the two countries’ formal export control dialogue, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced, according to an unofficial translation. Officials discussed “issues of concern in the field of export control,” China said, and “agreed to further strengthen communication and exchanges” and “jointly maintain the stability of the semiconductor industry chain and supply chain.” The meeting was held days after the Netherlands put in place new export controls over certain semiconductor manufacturing tools (see 2409090024).
The U.S. is imposing export penalties against three Chinese companies, a Pakistani company and a Chinese national for their involvement in “missile technology proliferation activities,” the State Department said in a notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register Sept. 12.
The House approved several export control-related bills late Sept. 9, including the Remote Access Security Act, which is designed to close a loophole that has allowed China to use cloud service providers to access advanced U.S. computing chips remotely (see 2409040046).
The House passed a bill Sept. 9 that would cut off top Chinese leaders and their family members from the U.S. financial system if China takes military action against Taiwan.