Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Warns China Could Cripple US Military, Economy
A new report from a US think tank chaired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is raising alarm bells over China's potential to win the technology race and in the process cripple the US economy and military.
Entitled "Mid-Decade Challenges to National Competitiveness(Opens in a new window)," the report was compiled by the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCMP)(Opens in a new window) think tank over a period of 10 months (Oct. 2021 to Aug. 2022). During that time, four board meetings and 26 panel meetings were held with more than 225 experts including "government officials, technologists, academic leaders." The conclusions make for stark reading, suggesting that microeletcronics, artificial intelligence, and 5G are "destiny-shaping technology" for the US between now and 2030.
The report states that those three areas of technology "tell the story of a nation (and its allies) coming perilously and unwittingly close to ceding the strategic technology landscape and along with it the capacity to shape the future." That's because the US economy, society, and national security all rely on them, which is why China gaining dominance in these areas is viewed as so dangerous.
The US government is taking a much harder line towards China and its access to advanced technology this year, and as The Register reports(Opens in a new window), this new report helps make it very clear why.
In a section entitled "What Does Losing Look Like?" The worst case scenario seems to be a situation where China takes control of Taiwan and cuts off the supply of rare earth minerals to the US, which would mean, "America’s military is crippled, and the nation is plunged into a depression," and "Americans are forced to live in a world where China can turn
Read more on pcmag.com
