U.S.–China Science and Technology Exclusion: Pressures Building Toward Conflict?

Leaders in both the United States and China claim to have stabilized a relationship that recently seemed headed for open conflict. Yet actions on both sides bely the calming words. In particular, the realm of science and technology—which both sides see as crucial to their own nations’ future power and prosperity—has quietly become a pivotal field of battle as each side restricts the other and jockeys to dominate the key sectors.

What are the flashpoints in the struggle for science and tech preeminence? How did the two countries move so quickly from robust science and tech cooperation to intense competition and damaging exclusion? How might tensions in this realm push toward geopolitical conflict, and what policies are required to limit that danger? Is there a path back to open exchange or is restriction the only prospect?

The Quincy Institute held a conversation with Kendra Schaefer, director of tech policy research and a partner at Trivium China; Denis Simon, non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute and a senior lecturer in the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute at Duke University; and Geoffrey Gertz, a senior fellow in the Energy, Economics & Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Jake Werner, acting director of the East Asia program at the Quincy Institute, moderated the conversation.