China must brace for ‘digital cold war’ with US as battle for tech supremacy heats up
- The digital economy will be the next battleground for strategic competition among powers, says top Chinese think tank analyst
- Separately, former finance vice-minister Zhu Guangyao says US efforts to contain China ‘not good for the global digital economy’
China needs to brace for a “digital cold war” with the United States as the two nations go head-to-head for dominance of the internet economy.
The warning from a top Chinese think tank analyst comes amid heightened technological rivalry between the world’s two largest economies and not long after Beijing unveiled a blueprint to ramp up China’s tech capabilities by 2025.
“The US has adopted a ‘small yard, high fence’ strategy to suppress China with a whole-of-government approach,” said Zhang Monan, chief researcher with the US-Europe Institute at the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE).
At the same event, former Chinese finance vice-minister Zhu Guangyao also criticised Washington for trying to contain China’s digital advance.
He singled out the proposed Alliance for the Future of the Internet, a US-led initiative that seeks to gather like-minded countries to promote an open and secure internet, saying it would “divide the internet and build two systems”.
“This is not good for the global digital economy and even themselves in the end,” Zhu said.