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Politico | China rattles Washington’s tech debates
- The anti-China anxiety is rippling through almost every tech policy issue
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This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Nancy Scola on politico.com on October 27, 2018.
A common thread is running through nearly every tech debate in Washington these days: fear that an ambitious China is poised to win the next wave of technology.
The worry that China is preparing to eat America’s lunch is the subtext for nearly all policy discussions on next-generation tech like quantum computing that can break encryption, artificial intelligence that can spy on or supplant humans, and super-fast wireless networks that can power an advanced digital economy.
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And it's causing rattled US policymakers to flirt with some of the same top-down, regimented strategies that Beijing is pursuing.
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Last month, the House passed a bipartisan bill establishing a 10-year plan to advance the nascent field of quantum computing, seeking to keep pace with China. Earlier this year, an official on the White House National Security Council floated a plan to nationalise the country's still-emerging 5G network, in a China-style, government-led approach.
The United States has long put faith in its much looser approach to technology development – where government, industry and academia play off each other – which gave birth to the internet and turned Silicon Valley into a global economic powerhouse.
The United States has long put faith in its much looser approach to technology development – where government, industry and academia play off each other – which gave birth to the internet and turned Silicon Valley into a global economic powerhouse.
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