Experts warn US is lagging behind China in key technologies

At a gathering of current and former U.S. officials and private sector executives in Washington on Friday, the U.S. lags behind China in developing some key technologies, and that other nations will challenge. Concerns about facing a possible uncertain future were prevalent.Its historical dominance in the development of cutting-edge communications and computing technologies.

The meeting was convened by a special competitive research project led by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The purpose of this project is to “ensure America is positioned and organized to win the tech-economy race from now to her 2030. A window shaping the future.”

The prevailing sentiment among participants was that the country’s ability to actually win the competition was under threat.

dire predictions

A few days before the summit, SCSP published a report predicting what would happen if China became the world’s technology leader.

“To understand the stakes, authoritarian states control digital infrastructure, enjoy dominant positions in the world’s technology platforms, control the means of production of critical technologies, and control new commodity technologies such as biotechnology. We need to imagine a world that harnesses waves: new energy technologies that will transform society, the economy and the military,” said the report.

The report argues that China, not the United States, will capture the trillions of dollars in revenue generated by new technological advances and use that power to argue that dictatorship, not democracy, is the superior form of government. Assuming the future.

In the report’s grim vision, China promotes the concept of a “sovereign” Internet, in which individual countries restrict the flow of information to their own citizens, while China controls critical infrastructure in countries around the world. It develops and possibly manages the critical technology it supports.

Finally, the report notes that in such a scenario, the U.S. military would lose its technological edge over China and other competitors, leaving China in a position to cut off the supply of “microelectronics and other critical technology inputs.” It warns that it may

“Nothing is inevitable”

In a speech at the summit, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan agreed that the United States faces significant challenges in keeping pace with China on developing new technologies. It seems

“We know nothing is inevitable in preserving America’s core strengths and competitive advantage in the world,” Sullivan said. We know we need to manage, and that’s especially true when it comes to US technology leadership.”

In China, he said, “we face competitors who are determined to overtake American technology leadership and are willing to devote nearly unlimited resources to it.”

Sullivan also said President Joe Biden’s administration is aware of the threat and is working to address it. He noted that the CHIPS Act, which diverts over $100 million, was recently passed.

“We are making historically unprecedented investments and are back on track to lead the industry in the future,” Sullivan said. We have adapted our tech protection tools to the new geopolitical realities, and most importantly, we have done this in a comprehensive and coercive way. It aligns with our values.”

Not “fast enough”

McMaster, a retired Army general who served as a national security adviser during the Trump administration, appeared as a panelist at the conference. He said that while progress is being made, the pace needs to pick up.

“After years of complacency based on false assumptions about the nature of the post-Cold War world, we are so far behind that we are not far enough forward.

He called for more aggressive efforts to curb China’s technological progress, saying, “We need export controls now to prevent China from gaining a discriminatory advantage. [while] Maintain a competitive advantage. ”

China has repeatedly criticized U.S. efforts to impede its technological progress, and Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, raised the issue this week when asked about U.S. export controls.

“What the US is doing is purely ‘technical supremacy,'” she said. “The United States seeks to use its technological prowess as an advantage to hinder and stifle the development of emerging market and developing nations. While advertising, we only care about “America First.” The United States probably wants China and other developing countries to remain at the bottom of the industrial chain forever.This is not constructive.

5G as a warning

A recurring theme at the event was the development of 5G wireless internet technology, an area where Western countries, including the United States, lag far behind China. Benefiting from preferential treatment from Beijing, Chinese companies, especially Huawei, have established a dominant global position in the provision of 5G network equipment.

Concerned that using Chinese-made equipment as the backbone of sensitive communications technology could pose espionage and security risks, the United States and some of its allies have urged Huawei to Launched a global campaign to stop the installation of the equipment. Deployment of 5G wireless services.

“The key message here is that what happened to us with 5G must never happen again.” You don’t want to work on the platform technology you use every day that is dominated.”

Schmidt predicts that China will “double down to compete in areas we care about,” including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology and more. He said it would be difficult.

relationship maintenance

Former ambassador to China Jon Huntsman said Americans are generally unaware of how far ahead China is in some technologies. Huntsman, now vice chairman of his company at Ford Motor Company, said China is at least five years ahead of the United States in developing electric vehicles, for example.

He said the United States must walk a fine line to catch up with China in some areas and maintain its dominance in others. emphasized the need to maintain strong business and other relationships.

“Dividing our people is not a good thing,” he said. “Then it will be as bound with China as it is with Russia,” he added. .