Tim Rowling confirmed that Beijing intends to compete with the United States and the European Union

German expert: China's capacity in the digital field is growing rapidly

Tim Rollig.

archival

Dr. Tim Rollig, a researcher in the "Technology and International Issues Program" at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, spoke about China's digital capabilities, and said in an interview with "The Diplomat" magazine that China's capabilities in this field are rapidly escalating, and that it has been able to achieve many of achievements, and it intends to compete with the United States and the European Union.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

■ He identified three points for the recent report of the Technology and International Issues Program entitled "China's Digital Power: Assessing Impacts on the European Union."

■■ Written by many Chinese engineers and scientists, the report covers a range of technology and topics ranging from semiconductors to artificial intelligence and technical calibration.

The first point is that while Chinese capabilities are rapidly escalating, they have not yet dominated this field.

There is no doubt that China has developed into an innovative and central force in global supply chains with this technology.

But China's extraordinary achievements cannot mask the fact that, like any other country, it did not dominate this industry, and China continued to rely on foreign technologies.

The country is working to address this by focusing on strategic and emerging technologies.

It aims to beat American and European competitors in this newly emerging field.

Second, we found that the four dimensions we used to analyze the challenges coming from China: economic, political, security, and ideological, were very useful.

Each carries its own challenges from an asymmetric playing field, which is undermining European competitiveness.

And third, Europe is well ahead of China when it comes to innovation and research, but we usually fail when it comes to turning innovation into invention.

■ To what extent is the European Union's reliance on Chinese semiconductors in the "5G" technology harmful to determine its competitiveness?

■■ European dependence on Chinese digital technologies varies.

The US controls chip design, and Taiwan manufactures them.

Testing and packaging is increasingly becoming China's prerogative.

The European Union is weak except for optical lithography systems.

As for 5G technology, the picture tends to favor the Europeans, as Ericsson and Nokia are on the same level with the Chinese company Huawei.

But wireless technologies depend on a complex import chain, and even Ericsson and Nokia buy from Chinese supplies.

That is why the EU needs to develop proactive technologies and prevent dependence on anyone.

■ How effective are EU countermeasures against China's public and digital diplomacy efforts aimed at undermining EU-US relations?

■■ Chinese media campaigns in Europe differ from those in Russia, as they are more targeted and focused on spreading Chinese discourse.

However, efforts to influence European public opinion and direct it away from supporting transatlantic relations have increased significantly during the Corona pandemic.

■ Explain the strategic importance of the EU as a regulatory standard-setter versus Chinese attempts to dominate global digital governance?

■■ Europe continues to be the international standards setting authority and far exceeds its economic weight in technical standards organizations.

In contrast, the United States propagates its technological standards through the power of global markets and industry associations.

China kept pace with them quickly and understood the strategic value of technical calibration.

It has worked to publish its local specifications in international standardization organizations, but also as part of the infrastructure of Belt and Road Initiative projects.

The United States and the European Union take different approaches to technological calibration, which makes cooperation difficult.

But if procedural issues can be put aside, both partners can focus on tackling the asymmetric playing field with China.

• "We found that the four dimensions that we used to analyze the challenges coming from China: economic, political, security, and ideological, are very useful."

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