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Advanced technologies are becoming a key factor in the great power competition between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The PRC’s growing technological prowess, and the role this is having in augmenting Beijing’s influence globally and especially in Australia’s own region, is playing a pivotal role in shaping Australia’s strategic environment.

In a new UTS:ACRI report, China-Russia cooperation in advanced technologies: The future global balance of power and the limits of 'unlimited' partnership, John Lee, director of the consultancy East West Futures, highlights key fields of Sino-Russian collaboration in next-generation technologies and explores their potential impacts on the dynamics of ‘geo-technological’ competition.

How does PRC-Russia cooperation relate to the trend of technology decoupling between the PRC and the West? What are the influences of this PRC-Russian cooperation on third-party states, including Australia, amid the Russia-Ukraine war?

In a webinar hosted by the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS:ACRI), report author John Lee was interviewed by UTS:ACRI Associate Professor – Research Dr Marina Zhang addressing these questions and more. Their discussion was followed by audience Q&A.

Time: 6pm – 7pm AEDT

 

A transcript of the discussion is available.

 

About the speaker

John Lee

John Lee is director of the consultancy East West Futures. He is also a researcher at the Leiden Asia Center, a consultant for the International Institute for Strategic Studies and Co-lead on the EU China Semiconductor Observatory. John’s research focuses on China and digital technology, in particular China’s cyberspace governance regime, the semiconductor industry and future telecommunications networks. Previously he was a senior analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies and worked at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Defence.

 

About the moderator

Marina Zhang

Dr Marina Zhang is an Associate Professor – Research at the Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney (UTS:ACRI).

Dr Zhang holds a bachelor's degree in biological sciences from Peking University and an MBA and a PhD from the Australian National University. Before joining UTS, she held academic positions at Tsinghua University, UNSW and Swinburne University of Technology. Her research interests cover digital transformation, emerging technologies, and latecomer catch-up in innovation. Specifically, her research investigates innovation in advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, biopharmaceuticals, new energy vehicles, and the global value chain (GVC), exploring their impact on Australia-China relations.

Dr Zhang is the author of three books. Her most recent, Demystifying China's Innovation Machine: Chaotic Order (304pp), with Mark Dodgson, and David Gann, was published by Oxford University Press (2022). The book was endorsed by Lee Howell, Senior Advisor & Former Managing Director, World Economic Forum, and Justin Yifu Lin, Institute of New Structural Economics, Peking University, Former Chief Economist, World Bank.

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