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Kyle Chan
Fellow – Foreign Policy, John L. Thornton China Center, Brookings Institution
Speaker Biography:
Kyle Chan is a Fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution. His research focuses on China’s technology development and industrial policy across a wide range of sectors, including AI, robotics, semiconductors, electric vehicles, and batteries. His work has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals, such as Asian Survey and Current Sociology, as well as major news outlets, such as The New York Times and the Financial Times. He has testified as an expert on China’s industrial policy before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He also writes the High Capacity newsletter on these same topics and hosts the High Capacity podcast on technology in China. Dr. Chan has a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University.
Abstract:
China has become a global leader in a wide range of clean technologies, including electric vehicles, batteries, wind, and solar. To achieve this, China has deployed a variety of industrial policy tools and strategies that have changed over time. These industrial policy tools extend far beyond mere subsidies and tariffs to include the securing of critical mineral supply chain networks through state-owned enterprises, R&D support across a portfolio of technological pathways, and policy experimentation at the local government level. Going forward, China is building on its strengths in clean technology to push ahead on AI, autonomous vehicles, and robotics. Along the way, China has also experienced many challenges that stem from its use of industrial policy, including “involution” in electric vehicles and solar as well as backlash from trading partners worried about being flooded with Chinese exports. Whether China will be able to address these challenges depends on policy choices with significant consequences for China’s push to decarbonize, upgrade its industrial base, and smooth out relations with other countries, including the United States.