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Knowledge is king: China and the US are not in a trade war, but a race to the next stage of technology
Andrew Sheng says the world is witnessing a contest between the US’ more market-driven (but not at all government-free) approach and the more state-driven strategy of China, and the first to reach Industry 4.0 wins
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
It’s not a trade war, stupid! In today’s world, when everything hinges on technology, competition and conflict between states is really about who gets to Industry 4.0 faster than the others. Hence, trade disputes are only one of many channels to disrupt your competitor before they become stronger and more competitive in technological capability.
Goodbye to equality between states.
We live not in a digital age, but a knowledge revolution using the digitisation of knowledge and technology. Competition in the age before digitisation was all about land, labour and capital. In the agricultural age, those who had more land and labour had the upper hand.
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But after the Industrial Revolution, those who had science and technology gained hegemony over land-based powers, because steam-driven gunboats and later aircraft gave Western powers command over land, sea and air. After the second world war, the United States gained decisive technological advantage also over space and, today, cyberspace.
The rise of digital computing and the internet was a game changer, because the knowledge economy enabled latecomers to catch up with the advanced economies.
Four key trends behind internet development in China
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