Asymmetric Competition: A Strategy for China & Technology

Actionable Insights for American Leadership

About this Project

The China Strategy Group was formed in July 2020 with the purpose of tackling the most difficult questions regarding the United States’s competitiveness with China on technology. This effort was undertaken in the service of providing actionable insights to underpin a new U.S. strategy.

The group, conceived and founded by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, brings together an eclectic group of individuals, with the belief that fresh perspectives must be brought to bear on the key issues in order to generate deeper understanding. To that end, the fifteen-person group includes China scholars, start-up founders, cryptography techies, venture capital investors, academics, a leading quantum computing engineer, technology executives, and former policymakers. We are Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. Some of us are old China hands, while others are established technology hands who are new to policy conversations.

Over the course of three months, the group conducted research, generated hypotheses, and met regularly to debate a range of thorny topics. The unorthodox approach and methodology of the group has generated novel thinking, demonstrating that in order to devise truly creative and unconventional solutions, new voices must be brought into the conversation. We believe this generative model—of a pop-up think tank or ad hoc brain trust of diverse experts—breaks new ground in this regard, and can be replicated to contribute meaningfully to future sense-making in a interdisciplinary, complex world.

We have been both humbled and inspired by the enormity of the challenge facing American leadership. As citizens, we hope that the insights of the group will be illuminating for those charged with the weighty and difficult task of positioning the United States for enduring success in our competition with China.