Just because Tesla has too close relations with China
U.S. Congressional negotiators are weighing whether China’s financial support for Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla is whether the contract awarded by NASA to Musk’s space company SpaceX will bring Potential national security risks.
Therefore, Gardner, who also serves as the chairman of the East Asian Foreign Relations Subcommittee, proposed two amendments to address this risk. The first is to allow the Government Accountability Office to review potential connections between NASA contractors and China, and the second is to suggest that NASA leaders “consider” these connections when awarding contracts. Gardner said: “Many American companies are very worried about this.”
Gardner’s proposal not only focuses on aerospace companies that have direct links with Chinese funds, but also on “American companies that share ownership with NASA contractors”, which expands the scope of the review to ensure that China cannot pass. Establish American “shelf companies” to avoid censorship.
Given that Musk’s Tesla obtained approximately $1.4 billion in credit lines from China’s state-owned banks last December, such legislation may put SpaceX at a disadvantage. According to congressional sources familiar with this process, the United Launch Alliance (ULA), one of SpaceX’s main competitors in launching US government satellites and spacecraft contracts, has always urged Gardner to make the above proposal.
A number of congressional aides emphasized that this legislation was not formulated specifically for Musk’s companies. An aide to a Republican senator said: “At least seven aerospace companies have been affected by Chinese investment to some extent.”
Gardner’s team admitted to receiving comments from ULA, but his assistant said: “This is just part of a responsible review. But we are partial to ULA and think it’s just a duel between ULA and SpaceX, showing that people Lack of awareness of the real problem.”
Gardner said he was surprised that the bill passed unanimously by the committee has caused controversy in recent weeks. He said in a recent interview: “I think these terms are common sense protections for our space program and space technology.”
Nevertheless, two congressional sources familiar with the legislative process said that many lawmakers were worried that Gardner’s initial proposal for NASA to “consider” the relationship between contractors and China was too vague and the agency might not be able to implement it.
The negotiators proposed a compromise solution to establish a self-certification procedure for the company to confirm that no Chinese entity is a minority owner. The negotiations are deadlocked on how to implement this process. Gardner’s team hopes that the bill will prohibit “problem contractors” from signing contracts with NASA for at least one year, and also hope to give NASA the power to extend the ban for 10 years.
Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, the Democratic leader of the Commerce Committee, prefers to rely on existing laws to punish deception in such cases, partly because the existing laws empower NASA to grant these companies when necessary The discretion of “probation”.
When legislators consider the best way to protect NASA secrets, national security debates have provided space industry giants with ammunition to deal with the heightened conflict. For example, Musk tried to prevent the Senate appropriation agency from favoring ULA because the rival rocket uses Russian-made engines.
For more such interesting article like this, app/softwares, games, Gadget Reviews, comparisons, troubleshooting guides, listicles, and tips & tricks related to Windows, Android, iOS, and macOS, follow us on Google News, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest.