China’s hi-tech progress reshaping global politics as US and allies seek to build ‘balancing coalition’, study says

Researchers said Western countries were reacting to progress in fields such as AI, 5G and quantum computing which have ‘unpredictable’ security implications

China’s status as a ‘near-peer competitor’ is driving efforts to limit access to key technologies such as semiconductors and counter its global influence

Reading Time:3 minutes

The US has been leading efforts to limit China’s access to key technologies in areas such as semiconducting. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 12:00pm, 25 Apr 2024

China’s advances in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G and quantum computing are reshaping world politics by prompting an increasing US-led effort to counter its growing influence, a new study has concluded.

Describing the situation as “unprecedented” the researchers said a global “balancing coalition” had been formed in response – by the United States and it allies – which uses sanctions, export bans and controls in key industries such as semiconducting, as well as forming strategic alliances to reduce China’s reach in emerging technologies (ETs).

The paper, published in the peer-reviewed Chinese Political Science Review, draws on the balance of threat theory, which says states consider a country’s perceived threat levels alongside its power when making decisions.

“China’s growing power and expansion in emerging [technologies] are key to driving momentum of the global shifts in technology and the geopolitical landscape,” Maria Papageorgiou, study author and a lecturer at the University of Exeter in Britain, said in a university statement on Monday.

The development of emerging technologies, which have “unpredictable implications” on national security, “demands a reassessment of the role of technology in international affairs and its impact on the international system,” the team wrote.

China’s advances in fields such as AI and 5G have been accompanied with a global technological spread through initiatives such as the Digital Silk Road, which had made it a competitor and a “threat” to the US, according to the paper.