China leading critical technologies global race with Western countries

Asia-Pacific, News March 4, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

China is leading in 37 out of 44 critical technologies with scientific and research breakthroughs and is set to become the world’s top tech superpower, according to an Australian think tank report.

According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) report China leads the race in defense, space technology, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, energy, environment, biotechnology, advanced materials as well as key quantum technology. China’s government institute, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, appeared first or second in most of the technologies tracked.

The ASPI report also stated that “Over the past five years, China generated 48.49% of the world’s high-impact research papers into advanced aircraft engines, including hypersonics, and it hosts seven of the world’s top 10 research institutions.”

The report added that it noted “China’s efforts being bolstered through talent and knowledge import: one-fifth of its high-impact papers are being authored by researchers with postgraduate training in a Five-Eyes country [an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States]”.

ASPI report claimed that “In the long term, China’s leading research position means that it has set itself up to excel not just in current technological development in almost all sectors but in future technologies that don’t yet exist”.

In addition, China also dominates key fields such as nuclear energy, machine learning, drones, electric batteries, quantum sensors, and critical minerals extraction, according to the Critical Technology Tracker.

*^{The Chinese PLA Air Force’s powerful CH-6 Drone debuts at Airshow China 2021.}*

Despite receiving funding from defense and tech industries and the governments of the U.S., UK, and Australia, the United States only dominates seven critical technologies, including space launch systems and quantum computing.

The ASPI data also indicated that “a small, second-tier group of countries led by India and the UK” while other countries that “regularly appear in this group-in many technological fields— include South Korea, Germany, Australia, Italy, and less often, Japan”.

The Australian think tank report called on Western governments to invest in research as “Western democracies are losing the global technological competition, including the race for scientific and research breakthroughs.”

The recommendations from the think tank urged Western nations to establish sovereign wealth funds to invest in research and development (R&D), facilitate technology visas, “friend-shoring” and R&D grants between allies, and pursue new public and private partnerships. It also suggested allocating “0.5% to 0.7% of gross national income” with co-investment from the industry.

The think tank also suggested visa screening programs in order to limit illegal technology transfers and favor international collaboration between the democratic and security allies. Australian universities are also complying with the country’s foreign influence laws to stop the illegal transfer of technology to China.

*^{Employees of Inspur Information work on a server production line of the company in Jinan, Shandong province, China. (Image Credit: Xinhua/via ChinaDaily)}*

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address that the United States was “investing in American innovation, in industries that will define the future, and that China’s government is intent on dominating”.

On March 2, the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed export bans on Chinese companies, added units of China’s genetics firm Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) and cloud computing and big data company Inspur to a trade blacklist for allegedly supporting the Chinese military and facilitating government surveillance.