A panel of technology experts, including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, cautioned in a report that the U.S.-China competition is “asymmetrical” due to practices such as unfair trade and espionage by the Chinese Communist Party. The report suggests that “some degree of decoupling” between the U.S. and Chinese technology industries is desirable.
The report, titled “Asymmetric Competition: A Strategy for China& Technology,” was obtained by the U.S. news site Axios. The report was written by a team of 15 technology executives, investors and experts on China. The team, known as the China Strategy Group, was formed in July of last year.
The group is co-chaired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, CEO of Jigsaw, a technology incubator created by Google. Other members include Elizabeth Economy, senior fellow on China at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security, a think tank.
Panel of Experts: “Some Decoupling” of U.S.-China Technology Industries is Preferable
“U.S. technological leadership is critical to America’s security, prosperity and democratic way of Life. But that vital advantage is now at risk as China (the Chinese Communist Party) surges ahead in key areas, aiming to outpace the United States.” The report warns.
The report makes several recommendations on what the United States can do to counter the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist regime’s ambitions for technological dominance. The report has been circulated in the Biden administration.
“Some degree of separation (between the U.S. and Chinese technology industries) is inevitable and preferable.” The report says.
If not, the report warns, the Communist regime could dominate the global industry and turn it into “a single digital world in which regulatory standards and norms do not reflect democratic values.
The Trump administration has engaged in a trade war with the Chinese Communist Party, holding it accountable for intellectual property theft, fentanyl shipments into the U.S. and human rights violations; it has also responded to the Communist threat with sanctions, adding Chinese companies to export control blacklists and other policies, particularly to address the security risks posed by Chinese technology.
In the 2018-2019 trade war, the “decoupling” of the U.S. and Chinese economies has become a highly visible option for the United States. Former President Trump also floated the idea of decoupling last September, when he said the U.S. “would not lose billions of dollars” if it did not do business with China.
More recently, U.S. lawmakers have made similar calls for decoupling. For example, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-UT) said in a speech on the Senate floor on Jan. 22 that it was “necessary and urgent” to decouple the U.S. economy from China following Beijing‘s decision to sanction 28 U.S. officials in the Trump Administration.
The Nature of the Chinese Communist Challenge: “Asymmetric” Competition
According to the report, the nature of the challenge includes that the U.S. and China are engaged in a form of “asymmetric competition,” meaning that “China [the Communist Party of China] plays by a different set of rules that allow it to benefit from corporate espionage, surveillance, and blurred lines between the public and private sectors. This means that “China [the CCP] plays by a different set of rules that allow it to benefit from corporate espionage, surveillance, and blurred lines between the public and private sectors.
The report also identifies a number of factors that favor Chinese (CCP) competition, such as illegal and unfair trade and investment practices, the large state subsidies available to Chinese companies, and the theft of intellectual property.
“Technology is increasingly shaping the national security landscape,” the report reads, “but our internal government structures are not optimized to address the new challenges posed by emerging technologies.”
Expert Team Calls for Building Joint Allies to Fight Communism
The report calls for a multilateral approach, calling on the U.S. government to work with like-minded nations. The report recommends the creation of a new forum called the T-12 to coordinate a response to technological competition with China. the T-12 would consist of Japan, South Korea, Canada, India, Israel, Australia, the Netherlands and Germany, among other countries.
“Positive developments arise in a multilateral framework, not to try to change China’s (CCP) behavior, but to build a swarming effect to counter China (CCP).” The report said.
Another multilateral approach suggested in the report is the creation of zones of confidence that allow for “global integration that promotes U.S. values. In these zones, for example, democracies would prioritize joint research and development and remove regulatory barriers to stimulate collective innovation to create competitive products.
The report warns that the United States should prepare for the imminent threat from the Communist regime.
The report said, “In the short term, the United States should prepare for a more aggressive attack by China (CCP) by deploying coercive economic measures, as well as legal battles.”
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