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| Apple under pressure to respond to China crackdown |
One of President Joe Biden's key allies in the Senate said that Apple, Cisco and other US companies with close ties to China are under increasing pressure to respond to Beijing's denial of human rights and democracy.
Democratic Senator Chris Coons' comments came two days after the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill aimed at improving the United States' competitiveness with China.
Koons compared the relationship between the United States and China to the separation of the United States from the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Although current trade relations between the United States and China are much stronger than those with the Soviet Union, Koons says there are gradual differences between the two economic superpowers.
Koons also made clear that the behavior of the Chinese people in their country and around the world is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
Koons criticized what he called China's Great Firewall. The government uses it to block the internet and solicit censorship in China, and uses it to coordinate surveillance and repression of its own people.
Koons also noted that the Biden and Trump administrations have described China's treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang as genocide.
Apple is under pressure because of China:
Companies trying to industrialize and operate in these two countries face increasingly difficult questions in the West about what to do to promote the suppression of human rights and democracy in China and the rest of the world.
When asked what these companies should tell China now, Koons replied, "Stop stealing our intellectual property."
He said: China forces you to transfer technology to your Chinese company and then steals it from you. It's our rivalry in the battle of vaccine diplomacy and next-generation technology.
He praised the US Innovation and Competition Act, which has invested $250 billion in technology and manufacturing. This should allow the United States to better compete with China.
Bell's extensive investments in semiconductors, 5G, quantum computing, and other industries increase the likelihood that the United States and its close allies will lead the next generation of civilian and military technologies with a dual purpose.