US aims to maintain military advantage over China by controlling tech

The United States and China are in a race for economic and military superiority. On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, US Ambassador to China Nick Burns clarifies the Biden administration’s approach to “de-risking” from China’s economy, emphasizing that while Washington isn’t pushing for a complete decoupling, it’s pushing to shift its supply chains and limit the sales of critical technologies like advanced semiconductors that could be used by the People’s Liberation Army to compete militarily with the US. Despite China’s protestations about US tech restrictions, the Ambassador emphasizes that Beijing also restricts its dual-use tech.

“In critical areas, essential for our national security, we're not going to permit trade,” Burns says, “There's a lot of complaints that I receive from my Chinese counterparts about our de-risking strategy, and I remind them you're doing the same thing.”

Prohibiting the sale of semiconductors isn’t about limiting China’s economy or tech industry, but about maintaining America’s advantage in the race for military development. Burns points to growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific, where the US is keenly interested in maintaining military superiority, and says that so far Washington’s action has been limited to a small yard. Limiting chip exports, he says, is the only way to prevent Chinese leadership from acquiring powerful technologies that could tip the balance of power.

Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week on US public television (check local listings) and online.