> They also can process algorithms that break all widely used encryption.

there’s that science reporting we know and love

"It doesn’t necessarily mean that their scientists are better, it’s just that when they say, ‘We need a billion dollars to do this,’ bam, the money comes.” More than that, when their scientists approach the government they aren't treated with scorn, told they are 'fake news', and ignored.

China's advances in AI are impressive as well. A ranking based on publications at top conferences from 2012 to present (2017) has both Beijing and Tsinghua University in the world's top 5.

http://csrankings.org/#/index?ai&vision&mlmining&nlp

(The starting year in the link needs to be changed to 2012.)

Many of the top researchers in US academia are mainland Chinese. I wonder if they will be enticed back home when the Chinese government has managed to reduce the pollution in their major cities down to healthy levels. It appears that the salary for top people there, especially those with experience at major Western institutions, is comparable to those in the US in nominal terms, and the research funding is easier to get.

My bet is that there is someone, or some group, at a very, very high level in the Chinese government, who understand that these (quantum science, AI) are superhot science and technology areas, and agree that investments right now would pay off extremely well in the future.

Central planning has downsides - but apparently some advantages too.

Many of their top leaders have engineering background. Xi Jinping himself studied chemical engineering. Those who studied liberal arts often have very strong academic records or a PhD. Li Keqiang, the premier, is an economics PhD.

I have a minor github repo for doing embedded image processing. At least half the people who reach out to me about of are from China, which surprised me.

Sounds like a remake of the 1980s blockbuster "Give us money, the Japanese 5th gen computers are coming!"

The US isn’t some special nation that is guaranteed to succeed forever. The Romans believed it, the Classical Greeks also did, the Victorian British, etc. Every nation falls. The US is no different.

The entire article does not mention qubit once.