China has no ambitions to “challenge or replace the U.S.” as the world’s preeminent superpower, contrary to Attorney General William Barr’s allegations that it’s waging an “economic blitzkrieg” to achieve that goal (see 2007160042), said a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Friday. “Some in the U.S., driven by ideological bias, have been sparing no effort to paint China as a rival or even adversary,” she said. “Attacking China is their panacea to deal with every domestic political issue. The world has already seen through the U.S. playbook of fabricating narratives to deflect attention.” Concluded the spokesperson: “Possessed by such evil, they are on the brink of losing their mind.” The White House didn't comment.
It’s deeply worrisome that President Donald Trump’s social media executive order might enable the government to punish editorial choices like fact-checking speech (see 2007100052), Center for Democracy and Technology CEO Alexandra Givens told the Technology Policy Institute in a podcast released Thursday. She called the EO “a clear effort to deter social media companies from fighting misinformation and voter suppression on their services.” The White House didn't comment.
The U.K. followed the U.S. lead in banning Huawei equipment on national-security grounds (see 2007140023) “without any solid evidence and under the excuse of non-existent risks,” said a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wednesday. The U.K.’s action “blatantly violated” free trade rules and “eroded mutual trust underpinning China-U.K. cooperation,” she said. “China will evaluate this development in a comprehensive and serious manner and take all necessary measures to protect the legitimate and legal rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.” President Donald Trump’s disclosure Tuesday that he personally “convinced many countries” not to use Huawei as a condition for doing business with the U.S. was “further proof that decisions to ban Huawei are not about national security, but political manipulation,” said the spokesperson. Trump's remark “also shows the world that it is not China, but the U.S., that has been intimidating and threatening others and sowing discord all across the world,” she said.
The campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden, Democrats’ presumptive 2020 presidential nominee, backed universal broadband and 5G access for all Americans in a Tuesday proposal. “Millions of households without access to broadband are locked out of an economy that is increasingly reliant on virtual collaboration,” the campaign said. “As the COVID-19 crisis has revealed, Americans everywhere need universal, reliable, affordable, and high-speed internet.” The digital divide “needs to be closed everywhere. ... Just like rural electrification several generations ago, universal broadband is long overdue and critical to broadly shared economic success.” Biden’s “unity” task force with former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., cited universal broadband access among several telecom policy recommendations earlier this month (see 2007080068). A spokesperson for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign called the broader proposal “more like a socialist manifesto” that shows Biden “is beholden to the radical socialist ideology” of Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
New America’s Open Technology Institute urged the Democratic and Republican national committees Monday to include planks in their 2020 party platforms in favor of restoring FCC 2015 net neutrality rules, ensuring universal internet access and undoing state laws that restrict municipal broadband. A “unity” task force set up by presumptive Democratic 2020 presidential nominee Joe Biden and former candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., recommended last week that the Democrats’ platform address restoring net neutrality rules (see 2007080068). President Donald Trump in June urged the RNC to update the party’s platform in response to reports the RNC executive committee voted to leave the GOP’s manifesto unchanged from 2016 (see 2006120061). The 2016 platform included language on spectrum availability, broadband deployment and data privacy (see 1607270061). OTI’s recommendations included protecting digital equity during the pandemic, improving broadband affordability, strengthening antitrust enforcement of digital markets and preserving “strong” encryption. “The past few months have laid bare many inequities in our society,” said OTI Director Sarah Morris. “We hope both parties use this moment to commit to ensuring equitable access to technology and its benefits, as well as protecting people from potential abuses of their rights.”
The U.S. and China should “redouble” efforts to “implement all aspects” of their phase one trade agreement (see 2001160022), especially “where implementation appears to be lagging,” 41 trade and business associations wrote Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. “Significantly increased” Chinese purchases of U.S. goods in “the coming weeks and months would be mutually beneficial," said CTA, the Information Technology Industry Council, National Retail Federation, Telecommunications Industry Association and others. “We strongly support and encourage” increased Trump administration efforts “to work with the US business community and stakeholders in China to increase export promotion efforts at this critical time” of COVID-19, they said Monday. They hope successful implementation of phase one “will create the necessary conditions” for the start of phase two negotiations “as soon as possible,” they said. Phase two is needed to “address important outstanding issues,” including cybersecurity, digital trade and standards setting, they said. USTR, Treasury and the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry didn't comment Wednesday.
A “unity” task force set up by former Vice President Joe Biden and former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., recommended Wednesday the Democrats’ policy platform call for the FCC to “restore” its “clear authority to take strong enforcement action against broadband providers who violate net neutrality principles.” Biden, the Democrats’ presumptive 2020 presidential nominee, has been criticized for being among the few candidates for the party’s nomination who didn’t take a clear position on whether the FCC should restore its rescinded 2015 net neutrality rules (see 1908260053). The Biden-Sanders task force wants the FCC to enforce net neutrality violations involving “blocking, throttling, paid prioritization, or other measures that create artificial scarcity and raise consumer prices,” citing the need for all Americans to have “access to high-speed affordable broadband service.” The group backed barring states “from blocking municipalities and rural co-ops from building publicly-owned broadband networks, and increasing federal support for municipal broadband.” The task force also recommended Democrats “increase public investment in rural broadband infrastructure and offer low-income Americans subsidies for accessing high-speed internet through the Lifeline program.”
The U.S. government has been slow to incentivize R&D in the semiconductor industry, ceding ground to foreign governments that have been heavily investing in advanced technologies for “decades,” said Semiconductor Industry Association CEO John Neuffer. He praised a recent push by Congress and the administration to provide more such federal funding and said much more is needed. “These would be very, very important first steps,” Neuffer said in an American Enterprise Institute interview Monday. “But when you compare to some other governments, it’s insufficient.” The Trump administration has taken what it says are significant measures to attract semiconductor manufacturing and counter rising competition from China, including convincing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to build a factory in Arizona (see 2006240045) and increasing license restrictions for foreign exports of semiconductors to Huawei. Instead of more restrictions on China, Neuffer said he wants more domestic spending to aid U.S. companies. He said other governments “identified semiconductors as strategic industries long ago” and “they’ve been plowing substantial amounts into attracting semiconductor manufacturing.” Neuffer said the administration “has been working behind the scenes” on incentives for the semiconductor industry, and encouraged it and Congress to move faster and raise funding levels. The White House didn't comment Tuesday.
U.S. trading partners “must abide by global trade rules so that American businesses can compete on a level playing field,” Americans for Free Trade, a coalition of 160 trade associations, wrote Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committee leaders Wednesday. “We disagree with the continued and indiscriminate use of tariffs to achieve those goals.” Four rounds of Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports are causing “unnecessary harm" while "creating little leverage to achieve further concessions,” it said. The Trump administration vows to keep the tariffs until a phase 2 trade agreement with China, but that “seems less likely with each passing day,” said the coalition. The tariffs “have sown uncertainty in the world’s economy and mistrust with trading partners and have hindered, not helped, the U.S. response to the COVID-19 outbreak,” it said. Congress should also “demand” that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative “improve” the tariff exclusions process and raise the portion of exemptions “so that it provides meaningful relief.” Of nearly 53,000 exclusion requests U.S. importers filed for relief from the tariffs, 75.4% were denied (see 2006220047). USTR didn’t comment Thursday.
The federal government should create national artificial intelligence “testbeds” to secure industry investment and expand research, members of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recommended, per an Office of Science and Technology Policy announcement Wednesday. A PCAST industries of the future subcommittee submitted recommendations Tuesday to be approved by the full council. It recommended federal partnerships with industry to “deploy AI applications at scale, novel academia-industry AI partnership models, and ‘AI Fellow-in-Residence’ positions in Federal agencies.”