THE WHAT? The US and China have extended a bilateral deal that sets out how the world’s two largest economies cooperate in the fields of science and technology. The US-China Science and Technology agreement was first forged in 1979, and has been renewed every five years since, excepting in 2023, when a six-month extension was approved.

THE DETAILS According to a report published by The Wall Street Journal, the longtime cooperation makes the two countries each other’s biggest research partner. The latest extension – again, just six months starting from February, 2024, signals that the cooperative mood may be waning as competition between the two becomes increasingly fierce.

THE WHY? Tension between the two countries has threatened the future of the deal as they vie for technological supremacy, the Wall Street Journal reports, putting any extension to the deal in jeopardy.