ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Members of the U.S. defense and national security communities are increasing questioning ties between technology giants including Microsoft, IBM, Cisco Systems and the Chinese military, sharing concerns that joint project development could be endangering national security, The New York Times reported. “One Chinese technology company receives crucial technical guidance from a former People’s Liberation Army rear admiral. Another company developed the electronics on China’s first atomic bomb. A third sells technology to China’s air-to-air missile research academy,” the Times reported. “Their ties to the Chinese military run deep, and they all have something else in common: Each Chinese company counts one of America’s tech giants — IBM, Cisco Systems or Microsoft — as a partner.” Those ties are not well publicized, but they are nevertheless serve as the crux of a growing debate among defense and national security officials, including many former U.S. military officials, analysts and other

Although the US military “do not seek” a new Cold War, it is determined to oppose the rising global powers – Russia and China – in order to protect the US-dominated “international order,” US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has said. Carter delivered this surprisingly direct and candid program statement, riddled with accusations against Russia for what he called “nuclear saber-rattling” and “violating sovereignty” of US allies, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, AP reported on Saturday. The US official once again put Russia and China in the same league as Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) when listing America’s top-ranked bogeymen. “Terror elements like ISIL, of course, stand entirely opposed to our values. But other challenges are more complicated, and given their size and capabilities, potentially more damaging,” he said. “Some actors appear intent on eroding these principles and undercutting the international order that helps enforce them… Of course, neither Russia nor Ch