Pass the CHIPS: A Tale of Securitization Dilemma in the U.S.-China Technological Decoupling

• In Event: China, Geopolitics, and Competition

Abstract

As the U.S.-China trade war becomes a new normal in the bilateral relationship, will Washington continue to weaponize its advantage on the supply chains to thwart Beijing’s ambition for an economic and technological parity? To fathom the extent of this specter, this paper investigates the emergence, solidification, and mitigation of the securitization in the U.S.-China tech war, wherein China’s effort to upend the hierarchy of advanced technologies and Washington’s preemption of Beijing’s open defiance have been elevated to the existential threats of both sides that merit urgent and exceptional measures. Following a thumbnail sketch of how the primary drivers of the U.S.-China trade war staged by Trump have played out under the Biden administration, this paper assesses the U.S. export control on semiconductor fabrication equipment and China’s counter strategy. The realignment of the incentives of the Chinese state and businesses under the structure of a new technology innovation system belies the effectiveness of Washington’s “small yard, high fence” approach to technology control. The coercive and retaliatory approaches entailed in securitization has propelled China into the direction of state capitalism and sparked the indigenous investment for its import-substitution industrialization. Such a response has also made Washington increasingly confident in identifying Beijing as a revisionist economic threat. While the U.S. does maintain its position as a dominant actor in the high-tech hierarchy, due to the degree of interdependence along the supply chain, the limitation of its leverage of technological advantage and weaponization demonstrates the dilemma of securitization implicated in the technological decoupling.

Author

• Ning Liao, New Jersey City University