US and China Narrow Scope of S&T Cooperation Agreement
A meeting between U.S. and Chinese diplomats in Beijing in the summer of 2023.
Chuck Kennedy / State Department
The U.S. and China have signed a protocol to extend their bilateral science and technology cooperation agreement by five years but narrow it to only cover basic research, the State Department announced last week. The agreement explicitly excludes work related to developing critical and emerging technologies and includes “new guardrails for implementing agencies to protect the safety and security of their researchers,” the State Department said. The agreement also adds “newly established and strengthened provisions on transparency and data reciprocity.” The text of the agreement has not yet been made public.
The previous agreement lapsed in August 2023 amid a stalemate in negotiations and increased tensions between the two countries. Some Republican politicians have criticized the Biden administration’s negotiating posture and pushed to add new congressional oversight mechanisms to the process. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), chair of the House Select Committee on the CCP, condemned the extension last week, writing that “a renewal of the STA in the final days of the administration is a clear attempt to tie the hands of the incoming administration and deny them the opportunity to either leave the agreement or negotiate a better deal for the American people.”
This news brief originally appeared in FYI’s newsletter for the week of Dec. 16.
