American Tech Giants Increasing Partnerships with Chinese Companies Impose Threat to US National Security

More and more United States giant tech companies are partnering with Chinese firms that are connected with the Asian country's military, leading to fears that it may improve Chinese military technological capabilities and could even harm US national security.

According to The New York Times, American military analysts and officials are examining a growing trend among United States companies going into new partnerships with military-connected Chinese firms as critics are worried that it could be harmful to the US national security. One of these Chinese companies is government-run Tsinghua Holdings, which is connected to Intel, Hewlett Packard, Western Digital, Dell, and IBM. Another is a network equipment manufacturer Inspur Group, which is connected to IBM, CISCO, and Intel. China Electronics Technology Group is another state-run firm connected to US tech giants like, Microsoft and IBM. Online defender Beijing Teamsum Technology is another Chinese company connected to IBM.

The Economic Times reported that one of the Chinese technologies connected with US tech giants gets vital technical guidance from an ex-People's Liberation Army rear admiral. Another company is responsible for the electronics of the first atomic bomb in China. The third one sells the needed technology to the air-to-air missile research academy of the second largest economy in the world. These partnerships are not well publicized, but is now under heated debate among US defense community. The capabilities in these connections may be essentially commercial, but some technologies are becoming more inclined to defense. This raises concerns among critics that it may lead to strengthen China's fundamental technological capabilities.

Market Realist reported that IBM is doing what ever it takes to strengthen its foothold in China. But IBM is not the only one desperately trying to penetrate the strict country. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave a speech at the Tsinghua University in Mandarin last October. Facebook is banned in China. Tsinghua University is now reportedly in talks with Facebook and Google for prospects of partnering up. Tsinghua Holdings plays a big role in the possibility of opening doors for Facebook and other US tech giants.

Meanwhile, Defense Group Inc said the blurring lines between supplying military and commercial technologies makes it difficult to determine whether the partnerships are used for China's military or not.