Frank Gaffney (00:13):
Welcome back. Each show, we try to describe for you developments that require your attention, as part of your responsibilities as citizens and patriots, who have to help us with protecting the country we love, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. China looms large, of course, always in these conversations, but rarely moreso than today because we've been learning about still more lines of attack, if you will, in the unrestricted warfare the Chinese have been waging against us. Notably, what they've been doing to out-innovate us and how. A man who has been looking into this and with whom we are proud to be associated is our next guest, his name is Bill Walton. He's a regular here, of course, at Securing America. He is also the host of his own television program, The Bill Walton Podcast, and you will find, I think, him as a figure that a lot of people look to for counsel on what we are to do about some of these challenges from the Chinese, and that's certainly the case with me. Bill, it's so good to have you back. Welcome, sir.
Bill Walton (01:42):
Frank, great to be here.
Frank Gaffney (01:44):
I wanted to talk with you about an outfit that I have come over the years to regard very highly as a really important part of our intellectual early warning system about the Chinese, it's called the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. It was established by the Congress 20 or more years ago now, to provide essentially second opinions on what the Chinese are doing and what we need to do in response. They had a very important hearing last week, and I'm anxious to get your thoughts on its content, its insights, and what we need to do in light of them.
Bill Walton (02:28):
Well, Frank, the hearing last week put into really high relief China's decades-long strategy of achieving manufacturing dominance. Not just generally, but specifically in materials and machines, and technologies that require rare-earth minerals. And it turns out that these minerals are an essential part of a lot of our defense technology, our information technology, and the things that America counts on for a strategic, competitive advantages. And for years, the Chinese have been flouting our intellectual property laws. And what came out in this hearing is not only have they been doing that, but their strategy's become more sophisticated, and they're now intersecting with their patent system. And it turns out that the Chinese have filed 20, 30% more patents in the last couple of years than the United States has. And again, this is part of a nuanced way to gain control over our critical materials, just at a time when it looks like tensions are flaring with China over Taiwan. I witnessed last week's meeting between Austin and we, the defense manager, so this news couldn't come at a worse time. And we now need to really get a national attention focused on dependence on China.
Frank Gaffney (03:51):
Boy, I couldn't agree with that more, Bill. I want to come back to the Ministers of Defense meeting last week in a minute. But as it happens, I was at the Western Conservative Summit last week, I had an opportunity to make a presentation there about China. But I also saw the premier of a new film by our mutual friend, Jenny Beth Martin, of Tea Party Patriots, who has done a masterful job. I have to say, I was astonished at how high quality the film was. It's called innovation race. And it basically drills down on what you were just describing there, Bill, how it is that the Chinese have been filing more patents, and having others filing patents with them. And it turns out, that according to the film, this is in part because the Chinese and global capitalists and the European Union and others have been systematically, in recent years, dismantling our patent system.
For example, instead of being a question of who gets a patent based on being the first to invent a particular innovation, it's the first to file that innovation, which enables people who are unscrupulous, hackers, for example, to be able to get your patent rather ripped off before you even know that they have it. They've filed it and your toast. But as importantly, Bill, in the film, they describe how the Chinese have figured out that the existing, or I should say the original patent system of the United States, which goes back to our Constitution, was a wellspring of our prosperity, and yes, our innovation. And that in the absence of our having such a system, they could have such a system, and they could effectively eat our lunch again, as a nation. So again, watch this space, folks, because this is we're going to be talking much more about this. We'll hope to get Jenny Beth and her team on to discuss this as well. But I'm really struck, Bill, that you've put your finger on this, the Commission has put their finger on it and we better get cracking on it.
Bill Walton (06:36):
Well, Frank, let me put a specific number on it. 2019, the United States had about 369 military patents filed, China had 544. Now, this is not because China's a free market innovation machine. What they've done is they once again, in yet another area, taken advantage of our open society to deconstruct our patent system, to jump ahead on these patents, and get control of them. And it's an egregious manipulation of our laws. And of course, we know the Chinese do not believe in international law or especially our law, but they're using it to win the military competition that we're in with them.
Frank Gaffney (07:22):
Yeah. Well, and more broadly, arguably, the unrestricted war that they've been waging against us for decades. But we have to pause for just a second. When we come back, I want to turn to what we've learned about that war from Defense Minister Wei, and his conversations with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Singapore last week. We're going to visit about that and where that leaves us in terms of the deterrents of China. And more with Bill Walton, right after this.