Increasing American Technological Independence Is a National Security Imperative

The United States is engaged in an ongoing technological race with China. Rather than disabling American companies that compete with China, we should enable them. That’s why the new administration needs to rethink its technology policy — both domestically and internationally.

China currently dominates the 5G global industry. Huawei, a company accused by the U.S. government of having ties to the CCP and backdoors embedded within its technology, controls 30 percent of the global marketplace. By contrast, Cisco, Huawei's closest American competitor, has just a six percent share of the market.

It is, therefore, essential for the U.S. to respond to this threat of Chinese control of the 5G market by ramping up its own 5G capabilities. As Rob Joyce, a former national security advisor to the President, put it: “[T]he race to dominate 5G technology is a decisive battle for economic supremacy in the 21st century.”  That’s why American policymakers must pave the way for as much American competition with Huawei as possible.

Here are three easy steps the Administration can take.

First, the Department of Justice can authorize the pending merger between Hewlett-Packard Enterprises and Juniper. Their merger would create an American-run alternative to the Chinese firm on the global stage. When combined, they would be a powerful counterweight to Huawei, though still with a smaller 5G market share than their foreign competitor. Still, as the Wall Street Journal put it, the merged company would “give business customers a complete stack of technologies, including networking, router switching, storage and AI systems that no company besides China’s Huawei offers” – clearly a beneficial development.

Second, the Administration can provide grants and tax incentives to U.S. companies to develop cutting-edge 5G technologies. One specific step to consider would be the creation of a public-private 5G innovation fund to support emerging companies focusing on 5G hardware, software, and cybersecurity and military research. China spends untold billions undercutting the free marketplace by subsidizing its industries. When it comes to sectors of national security importance like this one, the U.S. government should consider responding with public investments of its own. 

Third, the U.S. should coordinate with the other Five Eyes nations (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom) to ensure that our trade policies concerning 5G remain aligned. We need a joint approach to export controls and new international partnerships that could lend themselves to strategic diplomacy. Many hands make light work, and when dealing with geopolitical threats, the U.S. can use all the hands it can get. 

Good domestic policies represent a sound starting point for containing China. The CCP’s global footprint is far more dangerous to America’s long-term security than we may realize. China likely hopes that it “can displace the U.S. as the world’s economic superpower while our cultural and political divisions tear us apart from within.”  If we let that happen it will be deeply unfortunate.

Paul Rosenzweig is the Principal at Red Branch Consulting and a former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at DHS. The opinions expressed here are his own.