Eight major U.S. tech companies have business links to the Chinese military and security apparatus, according to a new report by the Washington-based advocacy group Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VoC), and Horizon Advisory consultant group.
“In their endeavor to capture Chinese markets and boost their bottom lines, American corporations have increasingly supported Beijing’s military modernization, surveillance state, domestic securitization, and attendant human rights violations,” the report said.
It examined the activities of eight U.S. companies in China: Amazon, Apple, Dell, Facebook, GE, Google, Intel, and Microsoft, looking for business links “that may directly or indirectly support China’s state surveillance, military modernization, and human rights violations.”
While all of the companies examined in the report had a checkered history of business dealings with state-owned corporations, the report found that GE, Intel, and Microsoft provided “direct support” to either the Chinese military or state security organizations.
Communist Military-Civil Fusion, Courtesy of American Tech
It is no secret that American companies are supercharging the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Establishment media has hinted at the prevalence of business deals favoring CCP authoritarianism for years. The new report does, however, adds new detail to just how pervasive the trend is.
Indeed, the companies involved are reported to have helped the CCP implement its militarization of Chinese society at the highest levels.
“Apple and Intel leadership have met multiple times with top brass at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), a leading Chinese state entity charged with implementing Beijing’s military-civil fusion strategy, which channels technological innovations developed or acquired in the private sector toward the Chinese military,” the report said.
Military-civil fusion refers to a strategy wherein the whole of society is mobilized to participate in the “great rejuvenation” of the Chinese nation by modernizing the CCP’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Under the strategy, all civilian technological development is encouraged to also serve a military function.
That presents a real problem for any company engaged in technology development or research in China.
For companies intentionally partnering to develop technologies with military corporations, however, the threat to the United States, as well as to Chinese civil liberties, is something more severe.
Partnerships and engagements with Chinese regime entities that support the PLA and state surveillance efforts, however, are far from rare, as the report detailed.
