Hundreds of civilian companies and universities outside the traditional defence tech network are playing an increasingly “consequential” role in the Chinese military’s AI-related procurement, according to a US think tank.
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In a report released on Wednesday, analysts at Georgetown University’s Centre for Security and Emerging Technology in Washington gave multiple examples of these tie-ups with the People’s Liberation Army.
They included a Chengdu drone maker that sold a full combat system to the PLA, a top Beijing university commissioned to improve multi-drone coordination and targeting, and a remote-sensing and satellite navigation firm that won defence contracts for virtual drone training and a marine data visualisation project.
The report said blurring boundaries between China’s civilian and defence sectors would “pose significant challenges to US policymakers, companies, and universities”.
It said that was particularly the case “as the United States navigates difficult trade-offs between preserving openness, which is key to promoting innovation, and safeguarding national security”.
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The analysts warned that the US could also end up being “ill-positioned to navigate the challenge of a China equipped with improving technological capabilities and a seemingly more agile defence industrial base”.