U.S. Export Control System Archives

By Steve Coonen Writing in the Wall Street Journal last week, professors Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman criticize American export control policies as having the potential to create more problems then they solve. Pointing the finger at America as a force for destabilization is divorced from the reality of the global export control landscape. China’s commitment to using American technologies to build up its military has necessitated export controls targeting the country’s chip sector. Here are four fallacies promoted in the article (in italics) and my rebuttals: Fallacy #1: The U.S. is to blame for export control-related global disruptions “A new tit-for-tat is emerging, and as China responds to the turn in American policy, there is a risk that the… Read More

By Steve Coonen “If you want it, here it is, come and get it,” sang the British band Badfinger in their 1969 song “Come and Get It.” That tune, written by Paul McCartney, might as well be the theme song for the U.S. Government’s inability to protect emerging or foundational technologies, including semiconductor technologies, from the Chinese military. Emerging and foundational technologies assist in providing the underlying knowledge and capabilities required for Chairman Xi and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to dominate and control key technological economic sectors and further modernize their military. Indeed, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute stated that China has a “stunning lead” in research into 37 out of 44 critical technologies, including those with clear military… Read More

U.S. Export Control System

4 Export Control Fallacies and Their Rebuttals

Useless Export Controls Fail to Stop China from Acquiring Sensitive Emerging Technologies