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Series: Global China
Visitors are seen at a screen displaying facial recognition technology at the Digital China Exhibition in Fuzhou, Fujian province, China May 8, 2019. China Daily via REUTERS  ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA. - RC155F050BE0

Global China: Technology

Learn more about Global ChinaChina aspires to global technology leadership. Can it achieve its ambitions? What would the impacts be at home and abroad?

This installment of papers for the Brookings Foreign Policy project “Global China: Assessing China’s Growing Role in the World” assesses China’s growing technological reach in the world by focusing on both thematic and technology-specific topics.

The U.S. is not prepared for the superpower marathon with China — an economic and technology race likely to last multiple generations.

As technological competition emerges as an ever more prominent element of U.S.-China rivalry, it is clear the Chinese military and defense industry have undertaken active initiatives in research, development, and experimentation around autonomous weapons.

There is relatively little correlation between the level of democracy in a country and the likelihood that it will adopt Chinese surveillance technology, but understanding the impacts of these technologies will be important for crafting effective policy.

China sees talent as central to its technological advancement and has formulated a multi-pronged strategy for growing its science and technology talent pool. In responding to China’s international talent push, however, other countries face dueling incentives.

To defend against the transfer of sensitive technical information to China, the United States and its allies will need to be targeted, collaborative, and agile in their response.

Over the past several decades, China has rapidly expanded its presence in outer space in both the civil and military arenas. Given the increasing role that China is playing in the space domain, the U.S. will need to develop a strategy that balances deterrence and cooperation with China.

It is in the security interests of democratic states, including the United States, for China to remain reliant on democracies for state-of-the-art chips.

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