Is there an end to U.S. technological hegemony?

China Plus Published: 2018-07-14 19:45:03
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By Hu Zhijian and Chen Baoming

The United States is a world-leading technology superpower that is in a league of its own. Despite recent claims that its dominance in such areas as telecommunication, artificial intelligence, and biomedicine has come under threat from competition, its leading position will remain unchallenged for years to come. Recently, however, the United States took a series of measures to limit economic cooperation with China, under the guise of the current trade dispute. The White House released a report titled "How China's Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and the World" as it tightened its policies on foreign investment into the United States. It also seeks to contain other countries by limiting access to its core technologies.

[File photo: IC]

[File photo: IC]

The recent actions of the United States comprise of three key aspects typical of technological hegemony.

First, it uses its core technologies to suppress potential competitors and obtain huge profits. For example, American enterprises with ownership of advanced technologies demand high patent fees and create a market monopoly. It even uses its core technologies to impose sanctions on foreign enterprises.

Second, it interferes with market competition by disrupting market stability and undermining or limiting foreign investment using the excuse that it has concerns about its national security. It prevents foreign enterprises from buying American companies that hold the rights to advanced technologies, maintaining strict controls on high tech exports, while also limiting the access of foreign high tech companies to the American market.

Third, it imposes high tariffs on imports of high tech products in an effort to hinder the development of the tech industries of other countries. The recent increase in tariffs on high tech products from China is an example of this.

Over a long period of time, the United States has consistently stayed at the top of the global value chain through its advantages in core technologies. American multinational companies have maintained this advantage even in cases where they have entered into joint ventures and acquired companies outside the United States. If the United States feels that its national security is threatened when its dominance in certain areas of technology faces competition, then what about the national security of the countries that rely heavily on American technology?

Technological hegemony is bound to have serious consequences. It leads to worldwide trade disputes that impose significant costs on global technological progress and international economic development. It may even lead to a reversal in global economic development.

It also disrupts the global value chain. This value chain should ideally develop naturally as countries trade freely on the open market, and each country makes the most of their advantages. By disrupting this highly efficient status quo, the technological hegemony of the United States brings harm to others – but also brings harm to itself.

America's technological hegemony neglects the need of other countries for technological improvement. But, in the long run, trying to prevent other countries from climbing the ladder of technological progress will fail, and the United States is bound to fall into greater isolation in the international arena.

And lastly, the hegemonic behavior of the United States pushes back again the natural progression of technological development and the market economy. The lack of pressure from competitors discourages innovation, eventually leading to a decline in competitiveness.

As the global scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation speed up, the transfer and diffusion of advanced technology is unstoppable. A country that moves to limit and block technological exchange will ultimately end up doing damage to itself.

Economic and technological globalization has brought the countries of the world into a more closely integrated whole. As the trend towards globalization has become irreversible, we should continue to promote cooperation and greater integration of the global value chain. It is a much wiser choice for all nations to jointly promote scientific and technological progress and economic development around the world.

 (Hu Zhijian and Chen Baoming are with the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development.)

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LU Xiankun Professor LU Xiankun is Managing Director of LEDECO Geneva and Associate Partner of IDEAS Centre Geneva. He is Emeritus Professor of China Institute for WTO Studies of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) and Wuhan University (WHU) of China and visiting professor or senior research fellow of some other universities and think tanks in China and Europe. He also sits in management of some international business associations and companies, including as Senior Vice President of Shenzhen UEB Technology LTD., a leading e-commerce company of China. Previously, Mr. LU was senior official of Chinese Ministry of Commerce and senior diplomat posted in Europe, including in Geneva as Counsellor and Head of Division of the Permanent Mission of China to the WTO and in Brussels as Commercial Secretary of the Permanent Mission of China to the EU. Benjamin Cavender Benjamin Cavender is a Shanghai based consultant with more than 11 years of experience helping companies understand consumer behavior and develop go to market strategies for China. He is a frequent speaker on economic and consumer trends in China and is often featured on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Channel News Asia. Sara Hsu Sara Hsu is an associate professor from the State University of New York at New Paltz. She is a regular commentator on Chinese economy. Xu Qinduo Xu Qinduo is CRI's former chief correspondent to Washington DC, the United States. He works as the producer, host and commentator for TODAY, a flagship talk show on current affairs. Mr. Xu contributes regularly to English-language newspapers including Shenzhen Daily and Global Times as well as Chinese-language radio and TV services. Lin Shaowen A radio person, Mr. Lin Shaowen is strongly interested in international relations and Chinese politics. As China is quite often misunderstood in the rest of the world, he feels the need to better present the true picture of the country, the policies and meanings. So he talks a lot and is often seen debating. Then friends find a critical Lin Shaowen criticizing and criticized. George N. Tzogopoulos Dr George N. Tzogopoulos is an expert in media and politics/international relations as well as Chinese affairs. He is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre International de Européenne (CIFE) and Visiting Lecturer at the European Institute affiliated with it and is teaching international relations at the Department of Law of the Democritus University of Thrace. George is the author of two books: US Foreign Policy in the European Media: Framing the Rise and Fall of Neoconservatism (IB TAURIS) and The Greek Crisis in the Media: Stereotyping in the International Press (Ashgate) as well as the founder of chinaandgreece.com, an institutional partner of CRI Greek. David Morris David Morris is the Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Commissioner in China, a former Australian diplomat and senior political adviser. Harvey Dzodin After a distinguished career in the US government and American media Dr. Harvey Dzodin is now a Beijing-based freelance columnist for several media outlets. While living in Beijing, he has published over 200 columns with an emphasis on arts, culture and the Belt & Road initiative. He is also a sought-after speaker and advisor in China and abroad. He currently serves as Nonresident Research Fellow of the think tank Center for China and Globalization and Senior Advisor of Tsinghua University National Image Research Center specializing in city branding. Dr. Dzodin was a political appointee of President Jimmy Carter and served as lawyer to a presidential commission. Upon the nomination of the White House and the US State Department he served at the United Nations Office in Vienna, Austria. He was Director and Vice President of the ABC Television in New York for more than two decades.