New China warning on technology arms race
The Canberra TimesMar 02, 2023
story
Report: China Leading Technology Race In Most Key Areas
Last updated Mar 04, 2023
Image credit: IAAF/Getty Images [via Fortune]Facts
- On Thursday, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) published its Critical Technology Tracker report, which found that China leads the world in 37 out of 44 critical technologies, with Western democracies losing the race for breakthroughs.[1]
- The study points out that China's impressive lead in sectors such as biotechnology, defense, energy, and space comes as a result of "deliberate design and long-term policy planning."[2]
- The country's interest and performance in the military and space fields are reportedly notable. According to the study, it hosts seven of the world's top 10 research institutions focused on advanced aircraft engines, including hypersonic, and its researchers produced almost half of the high-impact papers on this area.[3]
- The report found that, for some technologies, all the world's top 10 leading research institutions are based in China and collectively generate nine times more high-impact papers than the second-ranked country. Some 20% of these studies are authored by researchers trained either in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand.[4]
- In comparison, the report found that the US leads in seven of the 44 tracked areas, including quantum computing, vaccines, and space launch systems.[5]
- The project was funded by the US State Dept.'s Global Engagement Center and a grant from the Special Competitive Studies Project, with a 2021 Australian-funded project on critical technologies helping to inform it.[6]
Spin
Anti-China narrative
This study unveils the urgency needed from democratic nations engaging in technological cooperation to prevent China from gaining overwhelming control over the global supply of certain key technologies, shifting global power to an authoritarian state. Catching up to China is a matter of Western survival and self-defense.
Pro-China narrative
Under the guise of highlighting China's scientific development, the goal of this report is clearly to disseminate anti-China propaganda and promote a Cold War mentality among Western countries. Infamously known for its malicious content disguised as academic study, the US-funded ASPI is the real threat to the multipolar world.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that China will surpass the US economically, militarily, and scientifically by January 2124, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
