The technological battle between the US and China controls the overall direction of global leadership, influence, and stability.

The United States and China are engaged in a high-stakes battle to build and master the technologies of the future. The winner will achieve unprecedented national security, as well as sizable economic and trade benefits. The loser will be at a decided disadvantage for decades to come. But if Washington lawmakers enact a series of anti-innovation bills, they will not only undercut the competitiveness of the U.S.’s domestic tech industry, but they will inadvertently assist China’s quest to surpass the U.S. as the global tech leader.

Now a new  by the Lexington Institute, in partnership with the American Edge Project, documents the consequences of falling behind China, saying it “could be profound and have far-reaching security, economic, and political implications…If China wins the race for the technologies of the future, it will erode long-standing U.S. military advantages, weaken the U.S. economy, undermine American freedoms, and be an assault on Western democratic values across the globe.”

Make no mistake: our geopolitical foes – especially China – are working hard to supplant America as the global tech and innovation leader. In fact, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is investing tens of billions of dollars annually to boost its tech capabilities and will  the research and development (R&D) spending levels of the U.S.