Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) said China is now making attempts to outpace America in advanced communication technologies, specifically next-gen satellite tech in which they seek to embed their authoritarianism.
“Countries like China seek to undermine us in a range of advanced communications technologies, including next-gen satellite technology. We can’t afford to let this happen. The Chinese Communist Party will do whatever it takes to embed their authoritarianism into next-generation technologies like these,” Rodgers said in a statement provided to State Newswire on Feb. 2.
Rodgers, the House Energy and Commerce Committee chair, said China wants to replace the United States as the technological and economic power to spread its values and vision of the future, according to a press release from the committee.
The U.S. needs to develop these technologies in an ecosystem promoting American values and not China’s, she said, according to the statement. As technology evolves, the regulatory environment must reevaluate and adapt to assure that America wins the future by beating China and pushing the limits of innovation.
The CCP invested heavily in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, according to remarks by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) during a House Energy and Commerce Committee Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee meeting. China is creating favorable environments for its entrepreneurs and private sector companies when paired with this latest investment to deploy and test these technologies.
“This has forced many American companies with a global footprint and American entrepreneurs with cutting-edge ideas to consider a hard decision: whether to move their operations from American to Chinese shores. It’s also allowing Chinese companies to invest and expand further, potentially endangering our own infrastructure and data security,” Bilirakis said in the posted remarks reported.
The satellite industry’s global nature requires the U.S. to consider international considerations on spectrum use and orbital resources, McMorris Rodgers said, according to the committee press release. The U.S. must be the industry leader and ensure that its regulations encourage innovation, she said.
Rodgers was first elected in 2004 to represent the people of the 5th Congressional District of Washington, according to her website.
