telegraphed his desire to restrict U.S. outbound investment to the People’s Republic of China , and moves in this direction are expected this fall.For years, American companies and venture capital firms have enriched Chinese companies with direct ties to the People’s Liberation Army , complicit in the Uyghur genocide, and involved in the development of cutting-edge technologies that could prove decisive in the next war.
Even as Washington tries to limit Beijing’s AI dominance, in other words, American companies have bankrolled PLA advancements in that sphere. The contradiction is senseless and dangerous. It undermines America’s moral authority and national security. How Congress resolves this problem is of utmost importance. While powerful in some contexts, a sanctions regime alone will have only limited impact in cutting CCP entities off from U.S. capital. Sanctions are company-specific and reactive in nature. With that approach, America invites a game of whack-a-mole, and it will lose. along these lines is a step in the right direction, but is easily reversible and subject to lawsuits, which could delay its impact.
As it stands, Washington has permitted Wall Street to sow the seeds of America’s own demise. Reversing this state of affairs now falls to Congress. Michael Sobolik is senior fellow in Indo-Pacific studies at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC, and the author of