Many Americans have come to rely on Chinese-made drones. Now lawmakers want to ban them

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 7:49 AM EST, December 23, 2024


WASHINGTON (AP) — Russell Hedrick, a North Carolina farmer, flies drones to spray fertilizers on his corn, soybean and wheat fields at a fraction of what it would cost him to use a conventional ground spreader.

As a volunteer rescuer, Hedrick uses thermal drones to search for people trapped by mudslides and cargo drones to send water and baby formula to those who are stranded — something he did after Hurricane Helene.

Now he is fretting that one day he will have to ground his drone fleet. Most commercial drones sold in the United States, including those used by Hedrick, are made in China. They have become a target of U.S. lawmakers, who see the dominance of Chinese drones not only as an espionage threat but as a commercial threat because they make it nearly impossible for American manufacturers to compete.

It’s another front in the U.S.-China economic and technological competition that’s likely to intensify with the return to the White House in January of Republican Donald Trump, who has promised to get tough on China. Washington has already placed restrictions on Chinese telecommunications companies and imposed high tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles as the U.S. competes with China in semiconductors, artificial intelligence and other areas.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/china-drones-congress-ban-f69836c63b6e90956464f68c429f2724

[mainer]

1. DJI (china) makes the most advanced drones

They're already in use for search and rescue around the country, by filmmakers, and by a whole host of businesses. American-made drones just can't compare. Are we going to forbid these drones for use in searches? Wait until the first hikers freeze to death out in the wilderness because the Park Service wasn't allowed to find them with drones.

[AZLD4Candidate]

2. AFter living in China and seeing how the CCP views us as a people and a society, I'm happy with this

The CCP views us the same way the Japanese did in the 1930s: fat, lazy, weak, uneducated, divided, and completely easy to manipulate.

The CCP has one of the most sophisticated psyops operation in the world, using products, websites, and apps to track everyone and everything.

Temu, Aliexpress, TikTok, Huawei, (it's the foreign version of Douyin), WeChat, Tencent, etc. . .all this information goes to the CCP since China is mostly free-market fascist where the State has its claws in ALL business and industry.

Before you carry the CCPs water, live there for a while. They have my mainlander wife convince that, even though she is here on a green card, they can still see and hear everything she says and does.

But, I expect to be attacked on my point as a conspiracy theorist. After all, the CCP ended poverty in China (by lowering the poverty line salary baseline to a point where you need to make $1.25USD a day to be considered poor) and have never done anything wrong against its neighbors or its people.

Whenever the US or any other government comes out to propose limiting access to CCP psyop equipment, there are always people that will carry the CCP's water for them.

[SpankMe]

3. No conspiracy accusations from me

Go to YouTube and search "china social credit system". Watch a few of the videos that come up. While in China, you're basically living in an open air prison. It's the most sophisticated surveillance state on earth right now.

That said, banning Chinese products will do little to stem surveillance of Americans by foreign governments and by the US government itself.

What is needed is to deconstruct and reverse engineer these drones - down to the chip level - and discover what data is being gathered and how it's being transmitted. Then, disclose this publicly and in detail. Yes, it can be done. This should be within the mission of CISA.

[AZLD4Candidate]

5. True. As Carlin stated: "If you read the news even badly, you'll notice how government chips away at your rights

little by little to the point that all we have a list of temporary privileges all in the name of public safety and security."

[patphil]

4. It shouldn't be that hard to build high quality drones in the United States that can replace the Chinese ones.

It might cost a bit more, but I'm sure it can be done.

[whopis01]

6. It is not that hard and it is being done.

However the price is significantly higher.