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World 11/11/2020 Project Syndicate: US must come to terms with China’s rise
Project Syndicate: US must come to terms with China’s rise

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The US presidential elections, which became the most violent in the country’s history, will have profound implications for many aspects of domestic and foreign policy. The main issue on which the positions of the Republicans and Democrats are similar is the need to "contain" China.

The US, just like the EU, believes that China has unfairly achieved its economic and technological achievements thanks to the pervasive influence of the state on the economy. But closer analysis reveals that such a claim is misleading.

The main factors that stimulated the development of the PRC are high savings rates (almost 40% of GDP) and the rapidly growing educational level of a disciplined workforce. This gives China enormous resources to invest in building the foundations of technology leadership.

It is noteworthy that the country has invested heavily in improving both the quantity and quality of education. According to the US National Science Foundation, the PRC currently produces 2 times more engineers and peer-reviewed scientific and technical publications than the United States. China has surpassed the EU in research and development spending. Given the current trends, China should catch up with the United States within the next decade.

The US strategy of economic "secession" from China has little chance of success. Restricting China’s access to some key American technologies may be important in the short term, but is unlikely to significantly slow down its development. Even if the US succeeds in destroying Huawei, other Chinese high-tech companies will emerge. The sheer scale of human and financial resources that China will use over the next decade means it is well positioned to dominate many high-tech sectors with or without US involvement.

The next US administration must come to terms with the ongoing economic and technological rise of the PRC. They may not like the idea of China overtaking the United States - a milestone likely to be reached within the next decade. But further attempts to prevent such an outcome will be not only futile, but also very costly.

 

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