U.S. at Risk of Falling Behind China in Biotechnology  

The United States increasingly risks falling behind in the technological race for the future. On April 9, the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology released its final report on the American biotechnology sector, revealing that China has reached near-parity with the United States in a range of technical and academic fields.  

Just a month after Beijing announced its plans to catch up to the United States in research funding, the report highlights China’s progress in undermining America’s standing as the world’s leading global scientific and technological power.   

U.S. Biotech Development Bolstered by AI, Stifled by Government Inefficiency 

The report outlines the dramatic impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on American efforts to develop emerging biotechnologies. Capable of analyzing vast quantities of biological samples, AI programs have become proficient in predicting protein structures, designing gene edits, and producing novel medications. These advances have significant military and economic applications, such as in developing synthetic blood products that can ease the logistical burden on front-line hospitals during a future military conflict or producing cereal grains resistant to extreme weather events.  

Despite these advances, the report warns that the United States is beginning to fall behind China and other strategic competitors on several key elements of biotechnological innovation. China has continued to pour funding into commercializing promising innovations, while U.S. federal funding has remained disparate, limiting its efficacy in helping firms expand. The report also claims that the United States is rapidly losing scientific talent to China due to Beijing’s aggressive efforts to recruit researchers from abroad and Washington’s failure to solve problems within the immigration system.  

China’s Biotechnology Rise Threatens U.S. Innovation 

The report coincides with China’s dramatic acceleration of its efforts to expand its biotechnology sector in a bid to become a global leader in science and technology. Beijing has poured subsidies into its private sector and ramped up support for basic science research. China now boasts an industry increasingly capable of using AI to develop new therapies. Chinese pharmaceutical firms, for example, have increasingly invested in AI to bolster their drug discovery pipelines.  

The state-backed investment surge also has profound implications for China’s military modernization efforts. Having identified the biological sciences as a future sphere of military rivalry with the United States, Beijing has sought to integrate cutting-edge biotechnologies with its armed forces under its military-civil fusion policy. These efforts have reportedly included conducting genetic experiments on service members, developing wearable and implanted brain-computer interfaces to improve soldiers’ decision-making capabilities, and improving the country’s dual-use defenses against biological warfare and pandemic diseases.  

The United States Should Invest in Its Science and Technology Pipeline  

In response, the United States should work to cut off China’s access to American capital and technology development. Using the America First Investment Policy as a guide, Congress should prioritize screening outbound investment into the Chinese technology sector. The United States should also prevent Chinese firms from gaining a dominant position within the U.S. market by preventing federal funds from being used to procure Chinese biotechnologies and protecting Americans’ genetic data from being purchased by Chinese firms. 

Along with blocking China’s technological development, Washington should seek to expand the country’s lead by investing in basic research, workforce development, and AI. Congress should increase funding for the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and work to fulfill President Trump’s campaign promise to expand pathways for promising researchers to gain permanent residency in the United States. The executive branch should allow the construction of data centers and electricity generation facilities on federal lands.  

Blocking China’s technological development and investing at home is a near-perfect recipe for securing American biotechnology innovation. 

Jack Burnham is a research analyst in the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Johanna (Jo) Yang is a research and editorial associate at the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) at FDD, where she works on issues related to nation-state cyber threats, critical infrastructure protection, and U.S. cybersecurity policy. For more analysis from the authors, CCTI, and FDD’s China Program, please subscribe HERE. Follow Jack on X @JackBurnham802. Follow FDD on X @FDD and @FDD_CCTI. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.