ASPI's Critical Technology Tracker found that China "effectively switched places" with the U.S. as the world's technology leader in less than 20 years, which is incredibly quick.
"The U.S. led in 60 of 64 technologies in the five years from 2003 to 2007, but in the most recent five years (2019–2023) is leading in seven," ASPI says.
"China led in just three of 64 technologies in 2003 – 20074 [sic] but is now the lead country in 57 of 64 technologies in 2019–2023, increasing its lead from our rankings last year (2018 – 2022), where it was leading in 52 technologies."
The term "critical technologies" refers to a basket of 64 different fields that include "defense, space, energy, the environment, artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, robotics, cyber, computing, advanced materials and key quantum technology areas."
ASPI's Critical Technology Tracker was first launched in March 2023. It was recently expanded to include data that dates all the way back to the turn of the century.
(Related: U.S. dollar dominance on the world stage is fading after Saudi Arabia made China, not America, its most "reliable partner" for oil trade.)
West in decline as East rises
Data in the ASPI report came from various research papers on technological developments. It focuses on areas including quantum sensors, high-performance computing, gravitational sensors, space launch, and advanced integrated circuit design and fabrication.
For the time being, the United States is still the global leader in quantum engineering, vaccines, nuclear medicine (chemotherapy), small satellites, atomic clocks, genetic engineering (GMOs), and natural language processing.
China, conversely, has taken the lead in every single one of the so-called "advanced" technologies that researchers have classified as "high risk." This means that one day, China could become a worldwide tech monopoly.
"The technologies newly classified as high risk include many with defense applications, such as radar, advanced aircraft engines, drones, swarming and collaborative robots and satellite positioning and navigation," ASPI says.
Another country that is making strides in these areas is India. Several fields in which the U.S. used to be the world leader now show India in first place.
The United Kingdom, meanwhile, is another Western country in decline as the East rises. The UK is no longer even in the top five for eight critical technology fields that are now led by China.
Since 2023 when ASPI first started tracking all this, the following three countries have remained relatively stable in terms of their place on the list as world leaders in industry and tech: Germany, South Korea, and Japan.
Much of China's meteoric success comes not just from piracy but also from heavy government financing. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), for instance, has been shoveling cash into China's technological development fields for many years.
Singapore-based technology strategist Josh Kennedy-White told Voice of America News (VOA) that China has greatly benefitted from "aggressive, state-driven research and development investments over the past two decades."
"Even though it leads in areas like artificial intelligence and 5G, China still depends on Taiwan, the U.S. and South Korea to produce high-end semiconductors," Kennedy-White is quoted as saying, further describing China's lack of self-sufficiency as the country's "Achilles heel."
The West could catch up with its Eastern opponents by joining forces with India, Japan, and South Korea to develop a new unified superpower, the latest ASPI report claims.
The latest news about communist China and its mad rush to the front of the line on the world stage can be found at Communism.news.
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