Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said a tech company doing business in China can "help an authoritarian government assert control over its own population [and] enable the Chinese military to take advantage of the technology that is developed in the United States.” | Mark Wilson/Getty Images technology Top Pentagon official to meet with Google amid China concerns

A top Pentagon official again raised concerns today about Google’s business operations in China and said a meeting with the tech giant is on the books for next week.

General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, revealed the meeting plans during an Atlantic Council event in Washington, where he revisited concerns that Google has backed away from Pentagon contracting while seeking to become more active in China, including through an artificial intelligence research venture announced in 2017.


Such work “indirectly benefits the Chinese military and creates a challenge for us in maintaining a competitive advantage,” Dunford said.

“We ought not to think it’s just about business when we do business in China,” he added, saying that any U.S. company making such a venture is "going to help an authoritarian government assert control over its own population [and] enable the Chinese military to take advantage of the technology that is developed in the United States.”

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Pentagon officials have long sounded the alarm over how the Chinese government exerts control over the companies doing business in China. That issue got tied to Google after the company ditched a bid last year for a Defense contract, partly out of concern about A.I. ethics, but hasn't pledged to stay out of China.

Last week, Dunford, testifying alongside acting Defense secretary Patrick Shanahan, raised similar concerns about Google’s operations abroad under probing from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). President Donald Trump subsequently tweeted about the issue, calling it "[t]errible!"