The Fortress That China Built for Its Battle With U.S.
- sciart0
- 4 minutes ago
- 1 min read
Excerpt: The storm clouds for China were gathering when leader Xi Jinping convened the country’s top scientists at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in May 2018. The U.S. was beginning to clamp down on selling technology to China, with more restrictions on the way.
China must not be forced to beg others for technology, Xi said. Only through self-reliance “can we fundamentally safeguard national economic security,” he said.
Since then, China has raced ahead in many strategic sectors—and in some cases is catching up with the U.S. Its electric-car companies are among the world’s best. Chinese AI startups rival OpenAI and Google. The country’s biologists are pushing the boundaries of pharmaceutical research, and its factories are being filled with advanced robotics.
At sea, Chinese-made cargo vessels dominate global shipping. In space, the country has been launching hundreds of satellites to monitor every corner of the Earth. Beyond frontier technology, Beijing is pursuing greater self-reliance in food and energy, and has bulked up its military.
These successes and many others are helping to fortify China and its economy as Xi prepares the nation for an era of sustained hostilities with the U.S., including the continuing trade war. The two sides are entering complex negotiations, with many of the latest tariffs temporarily suspended.
The advances are making China less dependent on the rest of the world for goods and services. Imports overall fell to less than 18% of gross domestic product in 2023 compared with about 22% a decade earlier