The U.S. has banned the export of advanced computer chips to China as the technology competition has heated up. ISTOCK
The U.S. has updated a decades-old science and technology agreement with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to reflect their growing rivalry for technological dominance. The new agreement, signed in December 2024 in Beijing after many months of negotiations, has a narrower scope and additional safeguards to minimize the risk to national security.
It covers only basic research and does not facilitate the development of critical and emerging technologies, the department said. This includes technologies related to artificial intelligence and quantum computing, which are considered crucial for economic strength and military supremacy. The PRC’s science and technology ministry also announced the signing but provided no details or assessment in its one-line statement. The Chinese foreign ministry said earlier this year that such cooperation is mutually beneficial.
The first such agreement was signed in January 1979 when the two countries established diplomatic ties to counter the influence of the Soviet Union and when the PRC severely lagged behind the U.S. and other Western nations in science and technology. The agreement was last extended in 2018 and given temporary extensions in 2023 and 2024 to allow for negotiations. Washington had come to view the agreement as failing to reflect the shift in U.S.-PRC relations and the PRC’s emergence as a heavyweight in the field. The new agreement extends cooperation for five years.
As the tech war between the two countries has escalated, the U.S. has banned exports of advanced chips to China and restricted U.S. investments in certain technologies that could boost the PRC’s military capabilities. Cooperation in science and technology chilled in universities and research institutions after a Trump-era program was introduced to curb the PRC’s spying. The program was ended in 2022.
Deborah Seligsohn, an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University, said the new agreement would lead to fewer government-to-government programs, but, through its limited scope and stronger safeguards, it would allow for the cooperation to be sustained “through a more difficult relationship.”