Proposals circulating in the Biden administration from a group of high-profile figures in Washington, D.C., and the technology industry call for some "bifurcation" in the U.S. and Chinese tech sectors, Axios reported.
The policies aim to “position the United States to out-compete China without inviting escalatory cycles of confrontation, retaliation, or unintended conflict,” Axios reported, noting some nations are eager to respond to China’s growing tech dominance.
Axios reported the idea of "decoupling" certain sectors of both countries is gaining both bipartisan and industry support.
Called "Asymmetric Competition: A Strategy for China & Technology," the report was written by an informal working group formed last summer with 15 participants, including Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google and technical adviser at Alphabet, and Alexandr Wang, CEO and founder at Scale AI.
"America's technological leadership is fundamental to its security, prosperity, and democratic way of life. But this vital advantage is now at risk, with China surging to overtake the United States in critical areas," the authors wrote.
According to the report, competition is "asymmetric" because "China plays by a different set of rules that allow it to benefit from corporate espionage, illiberal surveillance, and a blurry line between its public and private sector."
"Some degree of disentangling is both inevitable and preferable," the authors write. "In fact, trends in both countries — and many of the tools at our disposal — inherently and necessarily push toward some degree of bifurcation."
The alternative is a world in which China's non-democratic norms have "won," the authors warn.
They also concede that trade-offs will be necessary, such as between "creating risk-tolerant research environments that encourage innovation versus security/espionage risks," Axios reported.
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