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TESTIMONY
TESTIMONY BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE
CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 25, 2025
Thomas G. Mahnken, Ph.D.
President and CEO, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
Chairman Moolenaar, Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi, Members of the Committee, thank you for the
opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the ongoing competition between the United States and
the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).
The United States and the PRC are in a long-term techno-security cooperation that will determine the
shape of the global political order for coming years and decades. In the limited time that I have, I would
like to discuss the uncertain scope of the competition, asymmetries in the American and Chinese
approaches to the AI competition, the state of the competition, and the way forward.
The uncertain scope of the competition.
First, I would like to say a few things about the level of uncertainty surrounding the global competition
over AI. It is vast, with poorly defined boundaries. That is, it is affecting, and will affect, different sectors
of society. AI has, and will have, implications for national security, but also for society more broadly. It is
difficult, if not impossible, to predict how it will develop, when and how it will be adopted, and the
implications of its adoption. That is a fundamental point that we need to keep in mind as we move
forward.
Asymmetries in the American and Chinese approaches.
Second, it is worth noting that the United States and PRC are approaching the competition in different
ways. This is not surprising, as the United States and PRC have very different approaches to innovation
and technology adoption.
The American approach to innovation is centered in the free enterprise system, and it is at its best when
the creativity of the free enterprise system is unleashed. That is not to say that government does not have
an important role to play in technology development and adoption. Government plays an important role
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Tai Ming Cheung and Thomas G. Mahnken, The Decisive Decade: United States-China Competition in Defense
Innovation and Defense Industrial Policy in and Beyond the 2020s (Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic and Budgetary
Assessments, 2023).
