Opinion | US-China tech race could be decided by population management as superpowers battle for talent
- James Liang, the chairman of Chinese travel services provider Ctrip, believes policies that govern size and demographic make-up could be determining factors
- China undoubtedly comes out on top in terms of population size as they look to develop world-beating artificial intelligence (AI) technologies
The context behind recent fluctuations and squabbles between the United States and China is quite clear for us all to see – two powers vying for technological domination over the other in the great technology race of the 21st century.
For the moment, it seems evident that China will continue to outpace and surpass the US in the next 10 to 20 years. In the long run, however, the determining factor in the outcome of this struggle, I believe, could be how these two superpowers manage issues of population, in terms of size, demographic make-up, and the policies they implement to govern these issues.
The US and China both have respective competitive advantages and disadvantages in the area of demographic management, and the actions taken, informed by these strengths and weaknesses, could play a decisive role in determining which country reaches technological supremacy over the other.
In the first place, in terms of population size, China undoubtedly comes out on top. The US is indeed a large country, but its paltry population of 327 million pales in comparison to the vast 1.4 billion people who inhabit the most populous nation in the world.
What role does population size play in the technology race? In simple terms, the more people you have, the more research scientists and engineers you have to develop the world-beating artificial intelligence (AI) technologies needed to overtake your competitor.
