TOKYO — Seeking to conduct joint research with the U.S. in quantum technology, artificial intelligence and other sensitive fields, Japan will implement tougher disclosure rules to keep information that could be used for military purposes out of foreign hands.
The government plans to start requiring university researchers to report any financial contributions from foreign and other external sources when applying for public funds. They will face restrictions on receiving such funding if found to have made false reports.
A government innovation promotion committee decided on the plan on Tuesday. Guidelines will be finalized by the end of the year. Japan is taking the step following an agreement between Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed on bilateral cooperation in cutting-edge research in mid-April.
Fields like biotechnology and artificial intelligence have emerged as major flashpoints in the growing technological rivalry between the U.S. and China. Because these technologies often have both civilian and military applications, Washington wants to make sure information that could threaten national security will not leak out of Japan.
Of particular concern to Tokyo is China’s aggressive efforts to advance scientific research in that country. Beijing’s Thousand Talents program, launched more than a decade ago, aims to lure overseas Chinese researchers back home and foreign researchers into China.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, second left, chairs a meeting of a government innovation promotion committee on April 27.
© Kyodo
“We must dispel concerns of illicit demands from and technological leaks to overseas actors in order to ensure Japan’s economic security,” Shinji Inoue, Japan’s state minister for science and technology policy, told reporters Tuesday.
Roughly 920,000 or so natural sciences papers were published in China from 2016 to 2018, more than any other countries in the world, data from Japan’s education ministry shows.
Given Beijing’s aggressive efforts on bring home Chinese scientists, cutting-edge technologies could make their way to China through individual researchers. In June 2020, a federal grand jury indicted a former chair of Harvard University’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology on charges of making false statements regarding his alleged involvement in Thousand Talents.
The State Department announced that September the revocation of visas for 1,000-plus “high-risk graduate students and research scholars” suspected of having ties to the Chinese military.
Such crackdowns are expected to continue in the Biden administration. Japan hopes to tighten controls on sensitive technology in coordination with the U.S. and Europe to prevent leaks and pave the way for further research cooperation.
