Dilemmas of U.S. export control of technology to China [1]

Abstract

Technology transfer from the U.S. and its allies to China is basically a combination of West-East and North-South characteristics. China's “unbalanced” development strategy for the past several decades has resulted in some technologically advanced military fields, like strategic nuclear forces, and a strikingly backward civilian sector. This uniqueness confounds U.S. decisions on export control of potential military technology to China, whereas western Europe and Japan can take full advantage of the economic opportunities beginning in the late 1970s. The U.S. relative disadvantage in economic terms as compared with its allies in dealing with China is hypothesized to be more serious than when dealing with the Soviet group. Meanwhile, the U.S. policy to ban some critical technologies to China may also be eroded by China's concerted efforts to get access to them and the informal channels rooted in the extensive Chinese network in the U.S. science and technology community.