COLUMNS

The Coming Tech War With China

undefined and Senior Global Analyst at RANE

Matthew Bey

Senior Global Analyst at RANE, Stratfor

Feb 6, 2018 | 21:15 GMT

Jia Jia, a lifelike robot created by Chinese engineers, demonstrates at least one of her facial expressions at a conference in Shanghai on Jan. 9, 2017.

Humanoid robot Jia Jia, created by a team of engineers from the University of Science and Technology of China, is seen after a presentation at a conference in Shanghai on Jan. 9, 2017. Jia Jia can hold a simple conversation and make specific facial expressions when asked, and her creator believes the eerily lifelike robot heralds a future of cyborg labor in China.

(JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

China's growing technological prowess will be a source of increasing worry for the United States.
Artificial intelligence will be a critical area of competition between the two countries because it has applications in military as well as civilian life — and will likely revolutionize both.
Because of China's sheer size, its tech sector could give Silicon Valley a run for its money in terms of market share if it even comes close to producing the same technologies.

The United States is already in the middle of its next great war -- even if it's only just starting to realize it. In the latest National Security Strategy, the White House highlighted China's growing technological prowess as a threat to U.S. economic and military might. The Asian powerhouse has taken on a leading role in several critical emerging technologies. Five years ago, by contrast, it was widely perceived as an imitator in technology, not an innovator. As hard as it may be for Washington to admit, China is catching up in the tech race. The question now is whether tech firms in the United States, a country that embraces private enterprise and a free economy, will be able to keep up with their Chinese counterparts' breakthroughs....

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