China-focused ‘Red Ventures’ pilot brings tech gaps message for next US president: analyst

A pilot US programme focused on mapping gaps in technological innovation with China has reportedly entered its second phase

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China has responded to expanding US restrictions on technology and equipment transfers with an increasing focus on economic and technological self-reliance and state-led innovation. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 10:00pm, 1 Sep 2024

Washington’s new China-focused programme to address economic security concerns underscores its focus on the innovation and hi-tech race with Beijing ahead of US presidential elections, according to a Chinese observer.

“Red Ventures”, a pilot programme focused on mapping gaps in technological innovation with China, has entered its second phase, months after being launched by the National Security Agency, according to US news website Defense One.

The programme aims to form an “innovation pipeline” to fix US vulnerabilities to China and to “provide a single list … of challenge problems for our China mission, for a whole bunch of different innovation communities,” the NSA’s assistant deputy director for China, Dave Frederick, was quoted as saying in the report.

“We’ve run a pilot … focused on the economic security topic because we knew that was going to be a shift for us,” he said.

The report comes close on the heels of US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s first visit to China last week, with economic security and technology competition high on his agenda along with a string of trade and geopolitical hotspot issues.

After meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, Sullivan said he had raised concerns about China’s focus on economic security and its impact on foreign businesses and supply chains.