Under the new rules, existing curbs on cross-border transfers will extend beyond goods and data to include the export of services through sending technical experts abroad or carrying out training overseas.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said on social media this week that the move reinforces a trend it has tracked for months.
The bipartisan commission warned in May that, „as is often the case for China’s national security-related laws, enforcement authorities have immense discretion to determine what constitutes a violation, creating further risk for foreign firms“.
Beijing is looking to protect domestic AI prowess in its competition with Washington, but the new rules risk cutting off other parts of the world from Chinese investments, Alicia Garcia-Herrero, Asia-Pacific chief economist at Natixis, told AFP.
„This is terrible for Europe, because if anybody were to believe that we would rely on China’s open-weight (AI) models, this is wrong – we can’t,“ she said, adding that the continent also cannot depend on Chinese talent to develop its own models due to Beijing’s stringent cross-border curbs.
With the US-China tech race showing no signs of stopping, Europe will need to seek strategic partnerships with other key players, including South Korea and Japan, „if they want to stand a chance of not becoming too dependent“, she said.
