Tech war between China and the US does not need to have just one winner

People love to pit the United States and China against each other, but the two are on very different paths in terms of technological domination
Technological advancement is not a zero-sum game and innovation is not about winning and losing – both countries can greatly benefit from each other's progress

Edith Yeung

Published: 1:00am, 9 Jul 2020

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The China-US technology race is on, but why does it matter? What happens if America wins? Besides US President Donald Trump’s ego getting larger and AT&T making more profit, who cares?

What happens if China wins? Would all American companies move to China? I don’t think so.

Everyone craves a good David and Goliath story. A race with a loser and a winner sounds exciting. Everything seems more urgent and more important when the race is on.

People love to pit the United States and China against each other, but I am convinced China and the US are on two very different paths in terms of technological domination. This is not a win-lose situation for China or the US.

Within e-commerce, China’s market is dominated by players such as Tmall, Taobao and JD.com with Pinduoduo and Xiaohongshu on the rise. I don’t see how any American citizens would abandon Amazon or eBay while the Chinese players are effectively not available outside China.

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Within content and media, platforms such as iQiyi, Tencent video, Youku, Bilibili, Douyin, Kuaishou and Ximalaya FM are dominant players that most in the West have never heard of. Meanwhile, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Spotify are staying strong without tapping into the China market.

For messaging, everyone in China uses WeChat. Its design and user experience is so natively Chinese it will be hard for Americans to ever adopt. WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger users will not be taken away by these Chinese players, either.

For dating, Chinese people find their soul mates on Momo, Tantan and Zhenai. Tinder, Bumble and Match.com do not need to worry. Love is in the air, but they just don’t mix.

On 5G, China is definitely ahead of the game with 5G subscribers increasing from 9 million to an estimated 160 million in the first half of 2020. Meanwhile, US wireless internet speeds remain far behind the global leaders with very little 5G network infrastructure developed. Does China having more 5G subscribers really impact the US? I don’t think so.

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On AI and facial recognition, Chinese companies such as Sensetime, Megvii, Qihoo and others are blacklisted by the US Commerce Department. Meanwhile, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM stopped selling their facial recognition technologies to the police. I think the two countries are on completely different paths.

For smart speakers and voice recognition, Baidu, Alibaba and Xiaomi mainly speak Chinese and their English recognition is terrible. Alexa and Siri will continue to dominate in the US.

In the autonomous car industry, Baidu has outperformed Waymo, Google’s self-driving arm, for the first time. Companies like Pony.ai, WeRide, AutoX, Neolix and Didi are launching their own robotaxis and contactless grocery services in different cities in China. In the US, Waymo, Cruise and Zoox are also aggressively testing.

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For mobile payments, Alipay and WeChat dominate China. The United States is slowly pushing Apple Pay and Google Pay. Paying by cheque is still a thing in most places in the US.

Within health care, Ping An Good Doctor saw its daily telemedicine consultations grow 900 per cent in the first quarter of this year because of the pandemic. I am seeing a similar surge in growth for Teladoc in the US, which is great to see.

For education, online platforms such as TAL, VipKid and New Oriental are popular among students and teachers in preschool, primary and secondary education and vocational training.

Meanwhile, the US education system is dealing with the Covid-19 shock and slowly adopting Zoom and Google Classroom. US platforms such as Coursera and Udemy have seen growth in the past few months owing to the coronavirus.

There is no doubt China and the US will continue to compete on all technological fronts. Competition is what drives innovation, but I really don’t see Americans using Pinduoduo or Ping An Good Doctor any time soon. Neither do I think Chinese would want to use Tinder or Apple Pay in China.

Technological advancement is not a zero-sum game. Innovation is not about winning and losing. Both countries can greatly benefit from each other's technological progress.

I hope China and the US can learn from each other and apply this learning to their own situations and perspectives. On our current Covid-19 challenges, including the resulting global economic downturn, China and the US share many common challenges and responsibilities.

There is no winning or losing with human lives and our well-being. We need both countries to work together. There can be a win-win outcome.

Edith Yeung is a general partner at Race Capital and author and creator of the China Internet Report

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