US Senate backs measure requiring reporting on China tech investments
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US lawmakers have introduced dozens of Bills seeking to address competition with China’s government and industries.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - The US Senate overwhelmingly backed legislation on Tuesday that would require American companies to notify federal agencies of investments in Chinese technologies such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence.
The 100-member Senate backed the amendment to the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) by 91 to six. The NDAA sets policy for the Department of Defence and is expected to become law later in 2023.
The desire for a hard line on China is one of the few truly bipartisan sentiments in the divided US Congress, and lawmakers have introduced dozens of Bills seeking to address competition with China’s government and industries.
The amendment is a version of the Outbound Investment Transparency Act, offered by Democratic Senator Bob Casey and Republican Senator John Cornyn, to address the risks of US investment going to adversaries like China.
“We need this type of outbound investment notification to understand just how much… critical technology we are transferring to our adversaries via capital flows. With this information in hand, we can begin to take control of our economic future,” Mr Casey said in remarks urging senators to support the amendment.
Unlike a version of the legislation the senators introduced in 2021 that failed to become law, the latest measure requires notification of some outbound investments, rather than review or prohibition of certain deals, and targets fewer industries.
The Senate also passed, by a vote of 91 to seven, an amendment to the NDAA boosting federal reviews of foreign purchases of US farmland and, in some cases, barring Chinese, Russian, Iranian or North Korean purchases of US farmland.
The final form of the NDAA, which authorises US$886 billion (S$1.18 trillion) in defence spending, will not be determined until later in 2023. The Senate is expected to pass its version, including amendments, this week. The Senate Bill must then be reconciled with a Bill passed in the House of Representatives earlier in July. That compromise measure must pass both chambers and be signed by US President Joe Biden to become law. REUTERS
