Opinion | How US-China rivalry over technology is a front for a geopolitical quest for supremacy

Cary Huang says American frustration with China’s domestic and foreign policy changes underlies the US-China trade dispute that has recently centred on the hi-tech sector

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Workers assemble a Fuxing bullet train at a factory in Qingdao, in Shandong province, on May 10. The “Made in China 2025” plan, which has spooked US policymakers, seeks to propel China into hi-tech dominance. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 3:00pm, 3 Jul 2018Updated: 6:49pm, 3 Jul 2018

It is probably a war over trade. But it is also a battle over technology. As the US and China veer towards a full-blown trade war, US President Donald Trump singled out Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” plan as a major threat to US economic interests that violates global trade rules.

The ongoing trade dispute emerged from a US Section 301 investigation which claimed that China’s unfair trade practices and state-backed industrial policy contravene both US and international trade law.

The administration is also set to step up measures to ban Chinese companies from investing in US technology firms and to block tech exports to China.

The “Made in China 2025” initiative, which was first unveiled in 2015 by the Chinese cabinet, led by Premier Li Keqiang, seeks to turn the country from the world’s factory into a global technology leader. As an industrial development guideline, it sets its sights on 10 strategically and technologically important sectors, including information technology, biotech, robotics, aerospace and clean-energy vehicles.

The plan is not necessarily incompatible with World Trade Organisation rules or any international laws. It is similar to Germany’s Industry 4.0 Strategy, which was a direct inspiration for the Chinese plan.

Watch: What’s the beef with the ‘Made in China 2025’ strategy?

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