China Boosts Dual-Use Technologies

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China will develop high-tech industries with military technologies to boost military-civil integration, in order to cultivate new growth drivers and boost the economy, said a recent guideline issued by the State Council, China’s Cabinet. This was one of the seven key tasks set by the guideline on deepening the military-civil integration in the defense technology industry, which was released by the State Council,

The guideline lowers the access threshold for enterprises to enter the field of weaponry equipment and will make the process more transparent, says Shi Haiming, an associate professor at the National University of Defense Technology.

According to china.org.cn, the guideline targets sharing technological innovation bases and facilities between military and civilian sectors while more efforts will be made to apply military technologies to non-military areas.

The military integration will also focus on key areas such as space, cyberspace and maritime sciences, while private capital is encouraged to enter military industries, the document said.

The guideline was the latest move by the central government to promote the military-civil integration to widen military contract orders to civilian sectors and apply high-end military technologies for civilian purposes as part of the supply-side structural reform.

The document also will further reduce institutional costs for private enterprise by building better platforms to promote military-civil integration, Shi said.

The military industry has the priority to apply cutting-edge technologies and also make breakthrough innovations, Lu Guangshan, chairman of the Avionics System Co under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, was quoted by Shanghai Securities News as saying.

“For example, virtual reality headsets were first used in helmets for fighter jets and my company has developed six civilian industries such as virtual reality, drones, robotics and smart wearing,” Lu said.

According to cfr.org, one of the major fields recently advanced by China has been artificial intelligence. Last summer, China released its national AI strategic plan announcing it would lead the world in AI technology by 2025. Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet, warned that the US unchallenged technological supremacy is over. The future will belong to countries that can leverage on the technological tidal wave of artificial intelligence, and while China’s efforts appear up to the challenge, the US is swimming in the wrong direction.