Ethical tech investment: H R McMaster urges oath for US-funded research in China

Former US National Security Adviser H R McMaster has urged corporate boards to adopt an ethical pledge. McMaster linked the idea to investments in advanced technology research abroad, including China. McMaster said such decisions could help rivals build weapons and other tools. McMaster made the remarks during an interactive session at the THRIVE 2026 Summit.

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McMaster said the concern applied to business and finance choices tied to foreign research enterprises. "I think if youre making a business or a finance decision related to technologies and technological development and investment in maybe research enterprises abroad, you ought to take a Hippocratic oath in every boardroom,\" McMaster said at the Stanford University event in San Francisco on Friday.

H R McMaster calls for Hippocratic oath for corporate leaders

McMaster said the oath should guide boards working on critical technologies with security impact. McMaster proposed three parts for the pledge. These were framed as duties to avoid harm. McMaster also warned against trading long-term company health for short-term gains or market access in China.

McMaster said the first duty was avoiding help to adversaries building weapons. The second duty was avoiding support for authoritarian actions against freedom. The third duty was protecting US companies over quick profits. McMaster said these tests should apply when investments might boost military capabilities or state control.

H R McMaster warns of China risks in critical technologies

McMaster said globalisation after the Cold War went unchecked and changed priorities. McMaster said free and open societies assumed major power rivalry had faded. McMaster said supply chains then focused on efficiency, not resilience. \"We became complacent and supply chains prioritised efficiency over resilience. So were behind in competition in critical technologies that China in particular has weaponised,\" McMaster said.

McMaster pointed to China’s control over rare earth minerals as an example. McMaster referred to Beijing’s squeeze on supplies after the US imposed tariffs last year. McMaster said China’s economic model, described as mercantilist, shaped technology areas with military or security uses. McMaster said this created wider risks for free-market economies.

H R McMaster describes China and Russia as revisionist powers

\"The revisionist powers China and Russia are doing their best to pull others into the fold, what I would call an axis of aggressors. Each of them has distinct objectives in mind, what they share in common is a desire to tear down the existing rules of international discourse in trade, security and finance, and replace it with a new set of rules that are sympathetic to their authoritarian form of government and, in Chinas case in particular, its status as a mercantilist economic model,\" the former US NSA said.

McMaster said new rules were needed for competitive technology development and use. McMaster listed artificial intelligence, supercomputing, energy-related work, materials science, and genetics and genomics. McMaster said it was not realistic to expect Chinese Communist Party leaders to accept rules the US sees as favourable.

McMaster said China could offer low-cost manufacturing and market access. McMaster said firms chasing those benefits could lose intellectual property. McMaster said that loss could later allow Chinese companies to push them out. According to the GSIF, the THRIVE-2026 Summit is a global convention where scientific innovation meets ancient wisdom in pursuit of a better world.

With inputs from PTI