If America loses a future war to China or even a major battle, we will have some of the largest U.S. technology companies to blame for it, according to a just-released report.
The Washington-based advocacy group Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VoC) and Horizon Advisory consultant group note in their report that eight major U.S. firms are providing "direct support" to the ChiCom government's military and state security apparatuses.
“In their endeavor to capture Chinese markets and boost their bottom lines, American corporations have increasingly supported Beijing’s military modernization, surveillance state, domestic securitization, and attendant human rights violations,” the report said.
The groups looked at eight American companies that operate in China -- Amazon, Apple, Dell, Facebook, GE, Google, Intel and Microsoft -- in a search for business links “that may directly or indirectly support China’s state surveillance, military modernization, and human rights violations.”
And though all of the firms analyzed by the report had a questionable history of doing business with Chinese state-owned corporations, the groups documented in their report that GE, Intel and Microsoft, in particular, gave "direct support" to either the Chinese military or the ChiCom state security apparatus, The Epoch Times reported.
The outlet noted:
It is no secret that American companies are supercharging the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Establishment media has hinted at the prevalence of business deals favoring CCP authoritarianism for years. The new report does, however, add new detail to just how pervasive the trend is.
Indeed, the companies involved are reported to have helped the CCP implement its militarization of Chinese society at the highest levels.
“Apple and Intel leadership have met multiple times with top brass at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), a leading Chinese state entity charged with implementing Beijing’s military-civil fusion strategy, which channels technological innovations developed or acquired in the private sector toward the Chinese military,” the report said.
"Military-civil fusion strategy" refers to the mobilization of Chinese society in order to take part in the "great rejuvenation" of the country via the modernization of the ChiCom's military branch, the People's Liberation Army. Under the strategy, all tech development by civilian companies occurs with an eye towards being able to apply it for a dual-use military purpose. As such, that is a problem for any U.S. or Western firm that wants to locate to China and do business there, including tech development.
"For companies intentionally partnering to develop technologies with military corporations, however, the threat to the United States, as well as to Chinese civil liberties, is something more severe," The Epoch Times reported, adding: "Partnerships and engagements with Chinese regime entities that support the PLA and state surveillance efforts, however, are far from rare, as the report detailed."
U.S. firm Intel is especially exposed.
“Intel’s exposure exceeds that of other companies surveyed in this effort,” the report said. “Intel invests in Chinese high-tech and military-civil fusion companies, potentially fueling them with both capital and access to technology. Intel has taken no action to curb or terminate such problematic relationships.”
Similarly, GE was found by the organizations to have been heavily engaged in tech partnerships with state-connected Chinese firms including those serving the Chinese military-industrial sector.
“[GE’s] partnerships appear to involve technology-sharing, including with core players in China’s military, military-civil fusion, and surveillance system,” the report said.
“Those partnerships have … granted military-tied Chinese players positions of leverage in GE’s supply chains, critical to both America’s national security and its manufacturing base,” the report said.
“And GE’s operations and partnerships in China systemically expose it to risks associated with forced labor and other human rights atrocities in the country.”
The groups also noted that American companies are blatant hypocrites regarding their U.S. and China-based operations.
“US corporate players have no problem saying one thing in the United States while doing (and saying) something different in China,” the report said.
“Such hypocrisy is particularly flagrant when it comes to digital privacy: Companies like Apple, Amazon, Dell, and Intel that stress information security in the U.S. also abide by Chinese regulatory requirements for storing and handling data," the report continued.
“This jeopardizes the information, and therefore security, of users in China who oppose the regime, as well as of global users.”
China is America's biggest competitor and future enemy - much more so than Russia.
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