It is dawning on the United States that China is not just a military adversary but an economic one. The two countries are at war for primacy in both innovation and production capacity as much of Beijing’s economic gain in advanced industries comes at Washington’s loss—and vice versa. This trend is likely to continue. Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged as much last year when he stated, “Technological innovation has become the main battleground of the global playing field, and competition for tech dominance will grow unprecedentedly fierce.”
But as Robert Atkinson writes in Foreign Policy Magazine, economic war is distinct from economic competition. Canada and the United States, for example, compete economically, but both nations understand that trade is conducted on the basis of a mutually beneficial comparative advantage. By contrast, China has launched massive frontal assaults on U.S. technology and industry capabilities.
Washington needs to commit to fighting an economic war with the overarching aim of preventing Beijing from achieving global leadership in most advanced industries—and ensuring a significantly greater rate of Chinese economic dependence on the United States (and close allies) than vice versa.
Read the commentary.
