Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) Revealed In a recent report China leads the world in about 90 percent of critical technologies and is seeking to take the lead in defense technologies, including drones and satellites.
Latest Updates for ASPI Important Technology Tracker The reporting project found that China has “effectively replaced” the United States as the world's technology leader in less than two decades.
“The United States went from topping 60 of 64 technologies in the five-year period from 2003 to 2007 to topping 7 technologies in the most recent five-year period (2019-2023). China went from topping just three of 64 technologies in 2003-2007 to topping 57 of 64 technologies in 2019-2023, widening its lead from last year's rankings (2018-2022) when it topped 52 technologies,” ASPI noted.
“Critical technologies” is a general term for 64 fields covering “defense, space, energy, environment, artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, robotics, cyber, computing, advanced materials, and key quantum technology fields.”
ASPI launched its Critical Technology Tracker in March 2023 and recently expanded it to include data going back to the turn of the century.
An analysis of research papers and data on technological developments found that China currently leads in quantum sensors, high-performance computing, gravity sensors, space launch, and the design and manufacturing of advanced integrated circuits, while the United States maintains its lead in quantum computing, vaccines, nuclear medicine, small satellites, atomic clocks, genetic engineering, and natural language processing.
Most worryingly, ASPI said China is taking the lead. everyone The researchers classified these advanced technologies as “high risk,” meaning one country could potentially gain a virtual global monopoly on them.
“The technologies newly classified as high risk include many with defense applications, such as radar, advanced aircraft engines, drones, swarm and collaborative robots, and satellite positioning and navigation,” ASPI added.
The latest update of the key tracker reveals that India has also made significant progress in key technology sectors. In fact, India has displaced the US from the second position in several areas currently dominated by China.
Meanwhile, the UK has been in consistent decline, dropping out of the top five in eight key technology areas. Other tech and industrial powerhouses, including Germany, South Korea and Japan, remain relatively stable from 2023 onwards.
ASPI researchers say much of China's remarkable progress in key technologies can be attributed to heavy government funding and high-powered academic institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
The authors blame Western democracies for becoming complacent with the technological advantage they held in the late 1990s and for not investing enough money and expertise in cutting-edge research.
Building technological capabilities requires sustained investment and accumulation of scientific knowledge, talent, and high-performance organizations, which cannot be acquired through short-term or ad-hoc investments alone.
The new administration's reactive policies and the sweet blow of short-term budget cuts must be balanced against the cost of losing advantages gained from decades of investment and strategic planning.
Among ASPI's proposals to rebalance the technology race was for Western countries to join forces with India, Japan and South Korea to form a more closely integrated technology superpower.
Josh Kennedy-White is a Singapore-based technology strategist. said Voice of America News (VOA) reported on Tuesday that China has benefited from “aggressive state-led research and development investment over the past two decades.”
Meanwhile, China remains dependent on third countries, including the U.S., for many of the components it needs for its high-tech projects. The Chinese Communist government is aware of this vulnerability and would like to domesticate supply chains, but has been unable to do so.
“Despite China's lead in areas like artificial intelligence and 5G, it remains dependent on Taiwan, the United States and South Korea for the production of high-end semiconductors,” Kennedy White said, calling China's lack of self-sufficiency its “Achilles heel.”
ASPI did not elaborate on accusations of Chinese technology theft, but Kennedy-White echoed complaints from the United States and its Five Eyes intelligence partners that many of China's rapid advances are “not entirely organic.”
“There is a correlation between the rise of certain Chinese technologies and alleged intellectual property theft,” he said.
