Letter to Commerce on Data on Tech Transfer Through US, PRC STA

Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) today sent a letter to Department of Commerce Under Secretary Kathi Vidal urging the Administration to provide a full accounting of the national security damage already caused by the United States and China's Science and Technology Agreement (STA). Despite the Biden Administration claiming that the STA has resulted in no dual-use technology transfer, we know that the Chinese Communist Party has previously leveraged the STA to advance its military objectives and will do so again. Alarmingly, the Biden Administration has extended the agreement twice.

The letter was also signed by Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Andy Barr (R-KY), Michelle Steel (R-CA), and Carlos Gimenez (R-FL).

The lawmakers write, "We believe the U.S.-PRC STA is a vector to give the PRC access to U.S. dual-use research and presents a clear national security risk...The Biden Administration must stop fueling our own destruction and allow the STA to expire."

Additionally, given that the Commerce Department and its U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have the authority and obligation to help the United States determine the extent to which China has leveraged the misguided STA, the lawmakers request information to assess the damage already caused to U.S. national security. Specifically, the lawmakers request:

1. The number of patents filed annually at the USPTO since 2010 that were funded by the U.S. government, and included a Chinese inventor.

2. The technology classes for these inventions, which US government agency funded these inventions, and the name of the Chinese entity that employed the Chinese inventor.

3. Any affiliation of the inventors or their employer with the Chinese military or with any entity under US export control laws.

4. Whether Commerce is aware of any patents filed in China that replicates the inventions applied for in the United States.

The Select Committee previously sent a letter urging the Administration to let the STA expire.

Read the text of the letter HERE