AP News, June 15th, 2007
The Bush administration announced Friday that it was tightening controls on exports to China of a range of high-technology products that could be used by China's military.
The new regulation, which is scheduled to take effect next week, will also create a new category for authorized Chinese customers that will cut down on the paperwork they face to purchase high-tech products from the United States.
"This new rule strikes the right balance in our complex relationship with China," Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said in a statement. "The steps we are taking today are good for national security and for American exporters and jobs."
Gutierrez said the new regulation would make it easier for U.S. companies to sell to pre-screened customers while at the same time denying China access to U.S. technology that would contribute to the country's military modernization program.
Items that will be subject to the new military end-use controls include aircraft and aircraft engines, avionics and inertial navigation systems, lasers, depleted uranium, underwater cameras and propulsion systems, certain composite materials and some telecommunications equipment that can be used for space communications and air defense systems.
A Commerce statement said that the list was developed with input from experts at the departments of Commerce, Defense and State and was designed to target militarily useful items that are not widely available on world markets. U.S. export controls are administered by Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security.
The new validated end-user program will facilitate sales of U.S.-made products to trusted customers in such areas as electronics, semiconductor equipment and chemicals.
The administration is pressuring China to lower barriers to American exports as a way of reducing the U.S. trade deficit with China, which hit an all-time high of $232.6 billion last year. But Chinese officials have complained that they are unable to obtain many U.S.-made high-technology products because of stringent export controls that have been imposed because of concerns about China's military intentions.
A Pentagon official testified before Congress this week that China is concealing its spending on weapons programs, including technology that could be used to disrupt U.S. space efforts.
Richard P. Lawless, deputy undersecretary of defense for Asia, said that the Pentagon's best estimate was that China could be spending $85 billion to $125 billion this year, compared with China's official estimate of defense spending of around $45 billion.
The Pentagon said last month in an annual report to Congress that China was modernizing its military in ways that give it options for launching surprise attacks, potentially far from its borders.
The report said the Chinese are acquiring better missiles, submarines and aircraft and should more fully explain the purposes of a military buildup that has led some to view China as a threat.
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On the Net:
Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security: http://www.bis.doc.gov
