Skip to main content
USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI 150th Anniversary
Donate
  • Cart
  • Join or Log In
  • Search

Main navigation

  • About Us
  • Membership
  • Books & Press
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Naval History
  • Archives
  • Events
  • Donate
USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI 150th Anniversary
Donate
  • Cart
  • Join or Log In
  • Search

Main navigation (Sticky)

  • About Us
  • Membership
  • Books & Press
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Naval History
  • Archives
  • Events
  • Donate

Sub Menu

  • Essay Contests
    • About Essay Contests
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Future of Naval Warfare
  • Current Issue
  • The Proceedings Podcast
  • U.S. Naval Institute Blog
  • American Sea Power Project
  • Contact Proceedings
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Media Inquiries
  • All Issues
Aerial view of the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong, China at night
The city of Shenzhen in Guangdong, China, sits in close proximity to Hong Kong. It is sometimes referred to as “China’s Silicon Valley,” in part because one-fifth of all Chinese citizens with doctoral degrees live and work there.
Alamy (Theodore Kaye)

Sub Menu

  • Essay Contests
    • About Essay Contests
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Future of Naval Warfare
  • Current Issue
  • The Proceedings Podcast
  • U.S. Naval Institute Blog
  • American Sea Power Project
  • Contact Proceedings
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Media Inquiries
  • All Issues
holiday catalog banner - links to pdf

The China Problem

By Lieutenant John D. Miller, U.S. Navy
October 2019
Proceedings
Vol. 145/10/1,400
Article
View Issue
Comments

Liu Ruopeng arrived at Duke University in the early 2000s to begin doctoral studies under Professor David Smith. In 2010, Dr. Ruopeng cofounded Kuang-Chi Institute of Advanced Technology in Shenzhen, often called “China’s Silicon Valley.” In 2012, Xi Jinping visited Kuang-Chi on his first state industrial visit as president and received a personal briefing by Ruopeng on the current and potential applications of metamaterials.1 In 2018, when trade relations deteriorated between the United States and China, NBC highlighted the controversial and unauthorized transfer of Duke University’s metamaterial research by Ruopeng to China. He claimed that he transferred only basic research; Professor Smith disagrees, pointing to an exact replica of Duke’s microwave cloaking model built at Zhejiang University.2 In the end, China made boundless advances in the field of metamaterials without consequence. 

Independent of industrial espionage, China has several significant advantages with respect to the development and fielding of meta-material-based technologies. It owns half the global market share of printed circuit boards, crucial components in not only legacy electronics but also the construction of highly customized, metamaterial lattices.3 In comparison, the United States retains only a 5 percent market share, thanks to a 70 percent decline in production since 2000.4 Further, China’s research and development, design, and production are highly concentrated and coordinated, leveraging public-private ventures between business and state-owned enterprises. Shenzhen houses a technological ecosystem ripe for collaboration and technological convergence in a single geographic location—20 percent of all Chinese citizens with Ph.D.s live there. Shenzhen is no longer merely in the business of “shanzhai”—copying and counterfeiting foreign technology. It is innovating at scale.5 

China recently announced it would begin testing and applying new metasurface coatings to its legacy fighters to decrease their radar cross-section.6 While such application will not overcome the limits of legacy structural design and composition, it will nonetheless increase the efficacy and lethality of its force. And the country is racing ahead with the use of metasurfaces in its fifth-generation J-20 fighter. The follow-on J-31 fighter doubtless will include more metamaterial-based components.7 China most assuredly recognizes cross-application of metamaterial technology for satellites, advanced hypersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, antiship ballistic missiles, and air-to-air missiles. 

The United States must do more not only in research and development, but also in protection of that research from espionage if it wants to build and maintain an advantage in the field.

1. Yang Ruru, “Xi Jinping visited Shenzhen Kuang-Chi Research Institute,” China News, 14 December 2012. 

2. Cynthia McFadden, Aliza Nadi, and Courtney McGee, “Education or Espionage? A Chinese Student Takes His Homework Home to China,” NBC News, 24 July 2018. 

3. Paradoxically, metamaterial development could actually threaten China’s preeminence and negate this advantage, as metamaterial circuit boards might revitalize competition. See Mark Piesing, “A Metamaterial Which Could Stop Electronics from Eating the Planet,” The Guardian, 19 October 2012. 

4. Interagency Task Force in Fulfillment of Executive Order 13806, Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States, September 2018. 

5. Wade Shephard, “A Look Inside Shenzhen’s High-Tech Empire,” Forbes, 14 July 2016. 

6. Zachary Keck, “Forget China’s J-20 or J-31 Stealth Fighters: What If Beijing Could Make Older Fighters Stealth,” The National Interest, 23 January 2019. 

7. Jeffrey Lin and P. W. Singer, “China’s New Stealth Fighter Uses Powerful Materials with Geometry Not Found in Nature,” Popular Science, 22 March 2018.

Lieutenant John D. Miller, U.S. Navy

Lieutenant John D. Miller, U.S. Navy, is a surface warfare officer serving as an action officer at Navy Warfare Development Command.

More Stories From This Author View Biography

Quicklinks

Footer menu

  • About the Naval Institute
  • Books & Press
  • Naval History Magazine
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Oral Histories
  • Events
  • Naval Institute Foundation
  • Photos & Historical Prints
  • Advertise With Us
  • Naval Institute Archives

Receive the Newsletter

Sign up to get updates about new releases and event invitations.

Sign Up Now
Example NewsletterPrivacy Policy
USNI Logo White
Copyright © 2023 U.S. Naval Institute Privacy PolicyTerms of UseContact UsAdvertise With UsFAQContent LicenseMedia Inquiries
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
Powered by Unleashed Technologies
×

You've read 1 out of 5 free articles of Proceedings this month.

Non-members can read five free Proceedings articles per month. Join now and never hit a limit.