China has now accepted the battle will be lengthy and hard-fought – with the potential to create serious difficulties for its own people. This week it confirmed that the quest for technological supremacy was, more specifically, China’s new Long March.
The Long March is a major event in Chinese history, central to the rise of the Chinese Communist Party.
In October 1934, embattled Chinese Communist fighters smashed through Nationalist lines and began a 6,000-mile trek that led to the emergence of Mao Tse-tung as the undisputed party leader and his eventual victory in the country’s civil war.
There were many deaths as the Red Army marched across 18 mountain ranges and 24 rivers – to reach the province of Shaanxi. It is a tale of heroism, adversity and sacrifice.
The phrase “new Long March” to describe President Trump’s technology war is not careless or hyperbolic. It’s a message to the Chinese people that there may be hardship and suffering ahead, but the prize at the end of the long trek will be worth the sacrifices made on the way. It’s an attempt to stir a nationalistic sense of pride that Beijing can harness to take on Silicon Valley.
Chinese president Xi Jinping first used the phrase “new Long March” in May last year, but it was made in general, unspecific terms. However, this week it was explicitly stated that the new Long March referred to by President Xi is a battle for technological supremacy between ideological rivals – and that the main front line will be the semiconductor industry.
The editorial argued that US dominance of the global chip industry supply chain was a “fundamental threat” to China. “It now appears that China will need to control all research and production chains of the semiconductor industry, and rid itself of being dependent on the US,” the Global Times said.
US chip giant Nvidia’s controversial pursuit of British success story Arm has also raised concerns in the UK about US dominance in the space.