North Country Leader

Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Elise Stefanik co-led a letter with Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and members of the Select Committee on the CCP calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to let the Agreement Between the United States and the People’s Republic of China on Cooperation in Science and Technology (STA) expire on August 27, 2023 due to concerns that China has previously leveraged the STA to advance its military objectives and will continue to do so.

"Secretary Blinken must put America’s national security first by allowing our Science and Technology Agreement with Communist China to expire. Communist China has exploited U.S. taxpayer funded research under the STA for projects that clearly undermine U.S. national security. It is long past time that we end this harmful agreement,” stated Stefanik.

In the letter, the lawmakers state, “Reports suggest that research partnerships organized under the STA could have developed technologies that would later be used against the United States. In 2018, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) organized a project with China’s Meteorological Administration—under the STA—to launch instrumented balloons to study the atmosphere. As you know, a few years later, the PRC used similar balloon technology to surveil U.S. military sites on U.S. territory—a clear violation of our sovereignty.”

The letter also notes that China continues to practice military-civil fusion, seeking to leverage civilian and commercial research for military and defense purposes. The lawmakers state, “The evidence available suggests that the PRC will continue to look for opportunities to exploit partnerships organized under the STA to advance its military objectives to the greatest extent possible and, in some cases, to attempt to undermine American sovereignty. The United States must stop fueling its own destruction. Letting the STA expire is a good first step.”

Congresswoman Stefanik is joined by Select Committee on the CCP Chairman Gallagher (R-WI) and Reps. Wittman (R-VA), Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Moolenaar (R-MI), Dunn (R-FL), Johnson (R-LA), Steel (R-CA), Hinson (R-IA), and Gimenez (R-FL).

Read the full letter here.

Original source can be found here.