A landmark science agreement between China and the United States, signed in 1979 after the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China established diplomatic relations, is up for renewal at the end of August and the “China hawks” in the U.S. Congress are working overtime to see that the agreement is canceled. Several Congress members have written a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, demanding the Biden Administration not renew the agreement.
The initiative to not renew came out of the recently created Select Committee on China, led by former military intelligence operative, Rep. Michael Gallagher (R-WI). The measure is a continuation of a policy of attempting to deprive China of technological advantages that might ensue from such cooperation.
While China has no doubt benefitted from the collaboration, so has the United States, with many important innovations garnered by the U.S. in forestry and in earthquake detection. Much of the cooperation has also been in the vital areas of medicine and health, and in agriculture.
