China is using its Belt and Road Initiative as a cyber espionage platform to spy on countries along BRI’s route. And its Made in China 2025 initiative calls for heavy R&D spending on information and digital technology. China is challenging the US as the world’s technology leader and is likely to become the world’s dominant player in crucial technologies, including technology with military applications. Donald Trump’s plan to win the technology race with China won’t work.

He plans to combat China’s ascendancy by relaxing Obama administration restrictions on use of US cyber-attacks on offending countries. But the lack of detail and his firing of security adviser Tom Bossert and eliminating Rob Joyce’s position as cyber-security coordinator have drawn concern that the White House lacks sufficient cybersecurity expertise. He also wants to block US exports to China (even though that can hurt the most wealth-producing American companies), and prevent firms with 25 percent Chinese ownership from buying US technology companies. But China will win without a massive increase in U.S. spending. Failing to extend America’s technology lead over China would increase our all-too-evident vulnerability to China’s cyber espionage and to other foreign, criminal and terrorist technologies that can kill civilians, disrupt our elections and electrical grid, and corrupt government IT systems in our Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice and Federal Reserve Board. These attacks, coupled with attacks on US industries, could shatter American life as we know it. Losing to China would also increase the number of potential attackers because China is teaching governments how to control their media and internet.