November 19, 2025
Sharper: Tech + China
Recent talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping placed a spotlight on emerging technologies, from high-end chips to minerals key to advanced manufacturing. In this edition of Sharper, CNAS experts explore how the competition between the United States and China manifests in the tech domain, including China’s Digital Silk Road, countering cyber aggression, and more.
Features
Report | Countering the Digital Silk Road
Countering the Digital Silk Road, by Vivek Chilukuri and Ruby Scanlon, chronicles the past 10 years of the Digital Silk Road—China’s effort to strengthen its global ties and influence through technology. In a series of case studies, the authors found that the United States and China now compete across six priority domains, as each seeks to pull key emerging markets into their respective tech ecosystems. Read the recommendations on how the United States can counter China’s Digital Silk Road by empowering global technological innovation.
CNAS Insights | The Cost of Silence on China's Cyber Aggression
Just weeks before President Donald Trump met General Secretary Xi Jinping, the United States discovered yet another major China-backed cyber intrusion. But instead of confronting his counterpart about Beijing’s cyber aggression, President Trump appeared to stay silent. In the latest CNAS Insights, Morgan Pierce writes that Trump’s decision to avoid publicly addressing Xi continues a presidential pattern that risks emboldening China to advance its cyber operations against the United States.
Technology & National Security
Countering the Digital Silk Road
The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the Digital Silk Road (DSR), China’s effort to strengthen its global ties and influence through technology. In the decade since the...
Indo-Pacific Security
CNAS Insights | The Cost of Silence on China’s Cyber Aggression
Just weeks before the much anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and General Secretary Xi Jinping, the United States discovered yet another major China-backed cyb...
Commentary | To Compete with China on Military AI, the U.S. Should Set the Standard
The United States and China are locked in a contest not only to lead in AI, but to shape the global landscape for its development and use. In Breaking Defense, Jacob Stokes, Paul Scharre, and Josh Wallin write that the United States must lead in setting global standards for military AI use or risk letting China set the terms.
Podcast | Selling H20 Chips to China Will Come at a Cost, with Liza Tobin
Earlier this year, the Trump administration considered allowing Nvidia and AMD to sell certain advanced semiconductors to China - so long as those companies agree to pay a commission fee to the U.S. government. On Derisky Business, Geoffrey Gertz is joined by Liza Tobin to discuss why China is seeking to access advanced AI chips, the consequences if the United States allows them to flow to China, and the increasing role of export controls in national security.
Defense
To Compete with China on Military AI, U.S. Should Set the Standards
The United States has an opportunity to lead in global norms and standards for military AI at a critical moment, when the foundations laid today could shape how militaries use...
Indo-Pacific Security
Selling AI Chips Won’t Keep China Hooked on U.S. Technology
U.S. policy should not rest on the illusion that selling chips can trap China inside the American tech ecosystem....
Commentary
Analysis from Janet Egan, Ruby Scanlon, and Liza Tobin
Indo-Pacific Security
Selling AI Chips Won’t Keep China Hooked on U.S. Technology
U.S. policy should not rest on the illusion that selling chips can trap China inside the American tech ecosystem....
Technology & National Security
The Trump-Xi Truce Shows Who Really Holds the Leverage
This article was originally published in The Australian Financial Review. Since President Trump returned to office, the U.S.-China relationship has lurched between confrontat...
Energy, Economics & Security
Scrapping AI Export Controls Is Self-Defeating
Beijing surely has two goals in mind: Signal to domestic companies that they ought to shun American technology as soon as possible, and manipulate Nvidia to reveal how it desi...
In the News
Insights from Richard Fontaine, Emily Kilcrease, and Liza Tobin
Energy, Economics & Security
With Power Move On Rare Earths, China Plays Both Victim and Bully
In Beijing’s version of the trade war, the United States is the bully and China is a victim, a rising power trying to protect the global economy while Washington unfairly hurl...
Indo-Pacific Security
Trump Leaves Behind a Reeling Washington to Chase a Deal With China
President Trump is heading to Asia on Friday evening at a moment of turmoil at home: He has deployed an aircraft carrier to Latin America, cut off trade talks with Canada, raz...
Energy, Economics & Security
Why the Latest U.S.-China Tech Fight May Be the Biggest Yet
Tensions between the U.S. and China are inflamed yet again — with the tech sector in the crossfire. In the latest move, Beijing has threatened to restrict the trade of rare ea...
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