06 January 2025

Gwyneth Paltrow may be an oracle of eroding international relationships...

The actress' popularization of author Katherine Woodward Thomas' term "conscious uncoupling" can soon be applied to the what appears to be a growing "tech divorce" between China and the United States.

Well, except when applied to human relationships, "conscious uncoupling" speaks to applying compassion and respect as a romantic partnership ends. The impending U.S. and China uncoupling over drones and other technology, however, appears to quite a bit fraught, and even meaner.

America's threat to ban DJI—and other Chinese manufactured—drones has continued, despite some governmental ebbs and flows, as well as hope from most of the drone community that DJI's typically affordable and techologically advanced UAVs be marketed in this country unscathed. The nation's first responders, for example, could be significantly compromised if forced to switch from DJI models to more expensive American-made drones.

Recently, President Joe Biden supported cutting China out of the U.S. drone trade—a move that obviously wouldn't be enacted (if at all) until president-elect Donald Trump's administration.

But China hasn't taken the threat quietly.

Mere hours after Biden's announcement, Beijing mandated export bans on 28 American corporations, including defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Boeing. 

Oh, and China has cited U.S. concerns regarding "national security" as their own reason for the export ban. "Payback is fair play," anyone?

You Have a Voice

Whatever your opinions on whether DJI drones actually pose a risk to our national security, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security is asking for public commentary on a potential ruling to ban Chinese drones. Deadline is March 4, 2025. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.

Battle of the Drones

While the United States reportedly has the largest combat drone fleet on the globe with 13,000 UAVs at the ready, China's drone tech—especially in the area of AI and its deployment for warfare—is seen as not just fierce competition, but also as a threat to the U.S. forces in a confrontation with Beijing over the Indo-Pacific region. The U.S. Defense Department has warned that “China’s development of new unmanned aerial vehicle capabilities for military use is rapidly catching up to the United States’ own advancements in the technology.”

In fact, China's MD-19 military drone, recognized as a "ground-breaking" platform that can fly at supersonic speed and land horizontally, shows clearly that Beijing is investing in speedier, brainier, and more battlefield adaptible drones.

As for the potential of a U.S. ban on DJI drones, the Chinese foreign ministry has stated the country will "take all necessary measures to firmly defend its legitimate and lawful rights and interests."

In addition, China's state media, The Global Times, has commented that "the world economy has already become too deeply integrated for protectionist measures to remove cost-effective products from the market to succeed."

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