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The Sino-American Innovation Dilemma: A Conflict with Deep Roots and Tough Solutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Stephen S. Roach
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In the midst of an ever-escalating tariff war, I do not share the view that Sino-American tensions are all about trade imbalances. The real battle is a strategic clash over innovation and technology — the Holy Grail of any nation's prosperity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 16 , Issue 20 , October 2018 , e2
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2018

References

Notes

1 See Stephen S. Roach, “A Bilateral Foil for America's Multilateral Dilemma,” Project Syndicate, May 2018

2 See White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, “How China's Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and the World,” June 2018.

3 CNBC interview with Peter Navarro, June 19, 2018

4 See Office of the United States Trade Representative, “Findings of the Investigation Into China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation Under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974,” March 22, 2018

5 The four points below draw on Stephen Roach, “America's Weak Case Against China,” Project Syndicate, April 2018

6 See American Enterprise Institute, China Global Investment Tracker.

7 See Ha-Joon Chang, “Intellectual Property Rights and Economic Development: Historical Lessons and Emerging Issues,” Journal of Human Development, 2001; also see, Charles R. Morris, “We Were Pirates, Too,” Foreign Policy, May 2018.

8 See Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, Volumes I-VII, Cambridge University Press, 1954-98; also see, Colin A. Ronan, The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China, Books 1-3, Cambridge University Press 1978-86

9 See Justin Yifu Lin, “The Needham Puzzle: Why the Industrial Revolution Did Not Originate in China,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 1995

10 See B. Kang, et. al., “Avoiding the Middle-income Trap: Indigenous innovative effort vs foreign innovative effort,” IDE Discussion Paper No. 509, March 2015

11 See CB Insights, Global Tech Hubs Report, 2018

12 See Torch High Technology Industry Development Center of China's Ministry of Science and Technology jointly with Great Wall Strategy Consultants in Beijing, March 23, 2018

13 Source: N. McCarthy, “The Countries with the Most STEM Graduates,” Forbes, Feb. 2017

14 National Science Board, 2018 Science & Engineering Indicators, US National Science Foundation, Washington, DC

15 D.M. Byrne, et. al., “Does the United States have a Productivity Slowdown or a Measurement Problem?” Finance and Economic Discussion Series, Federal Reserve Board, Mar 2016

16 See Graham T. Allison, Destined for War: Can America and China Escape the Thucydides's Trap? Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017