U.S. policymakers are increasingly concerned about the national security implications of U.S. investments in China, and some are considering a new regime for reviewing outbound investment security. The authors identify the main U.S. investors active in the Chinese artificial intelligence market and the set of AI companies in China that have benefitted from U.S. capital. They also recommend next steps for U.S. policymakers to better address the concerns over capital flowing into the Chinese AI ecosystem.

CSET Research Fellow Emily Weinstein testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission at a hearing on "Challenges from Chinese Policy in 2022: Zero-COVID, Ukraine, and Pacific Diplomacy." Weinstein proposed the creation of a new export control regime.

Geopolitical tensions between the United States and China have sparked an ongoing dialogue in Washington about the phenomenon of “decoupling”—the use of public policy tools to separate the multifaceted economic ties that connect the two powers. This issue brief provides a historical lens on the efficacy of one specific aspect of this broader decoupling phenomenon: using export controls and related trade policies to prevent a rival from acquiring the equipment and know-how to catch up to the United States in cutting-edge, strategically important technologies.

In an opinion piece for Foreign Affairs, Research Fellow Emily Weinstein detailed how the unprecedented response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has altered the culture around export controls, and how this changed environment presents an opportunity for the United States and its allies to create a new export control regime among like-minded democracies.

China’s State Key Laboratory system drives the country’s innovation in science and technology. A key part of China’s aim to reduce its dependence on foreign technology, these labs conduct cutting-edge basic and applied research, attract and train domestic and foreign talent, and conduct academic exchanges with foreign counterparts. These laboratories are spread across almost all Chinese provinces except Tibet, with the majority clustered in large coastal cities.

China’s State Key Laboratory system drives innovation in science and technology. These labs conduct cutting-edge basic and applied research, attract and train domestic and foreign talent, and conduct academic exchanges with foreign counterparts. This report assesses trends in the research priorities, management structures, and talent recruitment efforts of nearly five hundred Chinese State Key Labs. The accompanying data visualization maps their geographical locations and host institutions.

In an opinion piece for World ECR, CSET's Emily Weinstein and Kevin Wolf explain why a multilateral export control regime is needed to address national security and human rights issues.

In an opinion piece for Brooking's Tech Stream Research Analyst Emily Weinstein breaks down China's technological innovation strategy in its competition with the United States.

In an opinion piece for Foreign Policy, Research Analyst Emily Weinstein argues for the U.S. Department of Justice to clearly define its China Initiative mission.

In an opinion piece for Foreign Policy, research analysts Ryan Fedasiuk and Emily Weinstein lay out key resources at the heart of the U.S.-China competition.

CSET's Emily Weinstein and Ainikki Riikonen of the Center for a New American Security submitted this comment to the Office of Science and Technology Policy in response to a request for recommendations on securing U.S. government research and development against foreign government interference and exploitation.

Chinese and Russian government officials are keen to publicize their countries’ strategic partnership in emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence. This report evaluates the scope of cooperation between China and Russia as well as relative trends over time in two key metrics of AI development: research publications and investment. The findings expose gaps between aspirations and reality, bringing greater accuracy and nuance to current assessments of Sino-Russian tech cooperation.

Since the mid-2000s, China has consistently graduated more STEM PhDs than the United States, a key indicator of a country’s future competitiveness in STEM fields. This paper explores the data on STEM PhD graduation rates and projects their growth over the next five years, during which the gap between China and the United States is expected to increase significantly.

In an opinion piece for Lawfare, Emily Weinstein and her coauthor Ainikki Riikonen argue that the U.S. Department of Justices' China Initiative is counterproductive to U.S. innovation and offer recommendations to improve research security.

Emily Weinstein's latest Lawfare article offers a primer on the Biden administration's China sanctions.

“Science and technology diplomats” act as brokers as part of China’s broader strategy to acquire foreign technology. Each year, they file hundreds of official reports on their activities. This issue brief illuminates trends in the 642 reports filed by the S&T directorates of Chinese embassies and consulates from 2015 to 2020, quantifying which types of technologies the Chinese government is most focused on acquiring, and from where.

Elsa Kania, Emily Weinstein and Lorand Laskai discuss how the U.S. should respond to China's Military-Civil Fusion strategy.

The National Defense Authorization Act requires the Department of Defense to disclose Chinese military companies operating in the United States. In her co-authored piece, CSET's Emily Weinstein analyzes section 1260H of the NDAA and future implications of U.S.-China relations.

New analytic tools are used in this data brief to explore the public artificial intelligence (AI) research portfolio of China’s security forces. The methods contextualize Chinese-language scholarly papers that claim a direct working affiliation with components of the Ministry of Public Security, People's Armed Police Force, and People’s Liberation Army. The authors review potential uses of computer vision, robotics, natural language processing and general AI research.

CSET Research Analyst Emily Weinstein testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission hearing on "U.S. Investment in China's Capital Markets and Military-Industrial Complex." Weinstein discussed China's military-civil fusion strategy in university investment firms and Chinese talent programs.

In May 2020, the White House announced it would deny visas to Chinese graduate students and researchers who are affiliated with organizations that implement or support China’s military-civil fusion strategy. The authors discuss several ways this policy might be implemented. Based on Chinese and U.S. policy documents and data sources, they estimate that between three and five thousand Chinese students might be prevented from entering U.S. graduate programs each year.

It’s widely understood that Beijing invests significant resources in shoring up its science and technology prowess, but the extent and flows of the Chinese government’s public investments in S&T are not as well known. This project tracks publicly available information about the budgets of more than two-dozen high-level Chinese government entities, including those that support science, technology, and talent recruitment.

CSET Research Analyst Emily Weinstein emphasizes the increased role China's civil entities play in its military and defense strategy.

Research from a CSET report reveals that more than a dozen U.S. tech firms have collaborative programs with China contributing to China's expanding defense efforts.

CSET Research Analyst Emily Weinstein assesses Taiwan's use of technology to monitor COVID-19 amongst its citizens with respect to privacy.

To help U.S. policymakers address long-held concerns about risks and threats associated with letting Chinese university students or graduates study in the United States, CSET experts examine which forms of collaboration, and with which Chinese universities, pose the greatest risk to U.S. research security.

CSET's Chinese Talent Program Tracker helps policymakers understand China's recruitment efforts.

China operates a number of party- and state-sponsored talent programs to recruit researchers -- Chinese citizens and non-citizens alike -- to bolster its strategic civilian and military goals. CSET has created a tracker to catalog publicly available information about these programs. This catalog is a work in progress; if you have further information on programs currently not included in it -- or if you spot an error -- please complete the form at http://bit.ly/ChineseTalent

The current global pandemic has given China a chance to amplify its efforts to apply artificial intelligence across the public and private spheres. Chinese companies are developing and retooling AI systems for control and prevention. This data brief assesses the types of AI technologies used to fight COVID-19 and the key players involved in this industry.

China's government encourages members of the Chinese diaspora to engage in technology transfer through Chinese professional associations. This issue brief analyzes 208 such associations to assess the scope of technical exchange between overseas professionals and entities within China.

This report summarizes Chinese reactions to a May 29th White House proclamation forbidding entry to the United States of graduate students or researchers with past or current affiliations with entities supporting China’s military-civil fusion. It draws on sources ranging from government statements and state-owned media to blog posts.