Gordana Petrović
ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL RISE OF CHINA AS A NEWSPAPER OF THE NEW GLOBAL GEOPOLITICAL CONSTELLATION
Technological advances that China has managed to make in the last two decades, make it by far the most serious challenge to global hegemony that the two Anglo-Saxon countries (first Britain and then the United States) have encountered in almost three centuries.Along with a current trade war, the US and China have been entangled in rising competition to command different fields of next-generation technology, above all 5G networks and AI. The competition is in effect about who will control the international information technology infrastructure and standards. Beijing has prepared a number of plans, as was “Made in China 2025” aimed to dominate global high-tech manufacturing, with hopes to turn China into a world leader in 5G, AI, and other high technology areas. Тhe two countries are in one conflict with two different types of hostilities: a trade war and a ‘tech war’. The US might be leading in many areas, retaining a prime position especially in AI patents, investment, and academic research (which is expected as major software companies are based in the US). In 2020 China started its central-bank digital currency, but it, on its own, will not be a game changer increasing the Yuan’s role globally. Despite the technological sophistication of its retail payment systems, and introduction of China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System in 2015 able to bypass the SWIFT, as China’s central bank still manages the RMB’s exchange rate and restricts capital inflows/outflows, foreign and domestic investors are unlikely to view the renminbi as a world reserve currency. This will be true until Beijing decide to intensify reform of financial markets and remove restrictions on capital flows. Finally, it is very important to understand that in many aspects of technology China and the US are on two very different paths in terms of technological domination. Projections indicate that China will surpass the УС in terms of GDP at the end of 2020с, which will further complicate the fight for global supremacy. Looking at Belgrade's relations with Beijing, along strong intensificatin of diplomatic relations, it is a visible significant growth of Chinese investments (which are mainly financed with Chinese loans), and finally an increase in domestic exports to China.
