“Even if China did harbour ambitions to extend Orwellian control internationally, the idea that it could use the digital renminbi for pervasive snooping abroad is based on misconceptions about how money works, especially across borders.”
Paul Blustein, CIGI senior fellow and award-winning journalist and author, on China’s digital renminbi
China’s High-Tech Industry Lags Despite Expectations
There is considerable debate about who leads the technology production race. CIGI’s Alex He makes the case that China’s technology industry lags behind other countries, at least in the production of semiconductors, which have become vital components of the technologies embedded in our everyday lives. He says that state-sponsored technological innovation has been crippled by problems in China’s science and technology research programs.
In a similar vein, Hanzhi Yu and Yang Xue argue that China faces similar struggles in biotechnology with threats to biological security and global health governance — as do other countries. While fears of China’s economic prowess are plentiful, author Paul Blustein takes misconceptions about digital currencies to task in an unflinching piece about the launch of the digital renminbi.