China’s Quantum Ambitions Running Alongside the U.S. (Almost)
Quantum Cryptography in the US-China Tech Race
Excerpts and salient points ~
+ As I mentioned, the rush to quantum cryptography was motivated by the Snowden leaks and the fear that the U.S. will have a code-breaking quantum computer first. But particularly in the group of Professor Pan Jianwei at USTC, the search for the fundamental workings of the universe — independent of any immediate applications — has always been a key direction in his research.
The U.S. company Google announced that they hit Quantum Supremacy on their superconducting quantum computer — demonstrating that they can solve a problem on a quantum computer exponentially faster than on a classical computer. However, in a matter of days, University of Science and Technology in China announced that it had hit quantum supremacy with its all-optical quantum computer.
+ Assess the U.S. national security implications of China’s strategy in developing quantum computing… There are two right now that most worry the United States. The first is that in a few years, China will go dark behind a wall of quantum cryptography, and the U.S. will not be able to decode any of the information that is transmitted. The second is that the Chinese might develop the universal quantum computer first and be able to decipher all of the data being carried over the internet in the U.S. — since the U.S. has almost no effort in developing quantum cryptography nationwide.
+ China’s particular strength is in the area of quantum cryptography. It has a secure network running between Beijing and Shanghai with quantum local area networks around those to cities as well as Hefei and several others.
+ Most famously, China has the space satellite Mozi, whose primary mission is to establish quantum cryptography across China. Quantum cryptography is unbreakable by any means — even with a quantum computer. China was motivated to build this after the Snowden leaks and further motivated as other countries, such as the U.S., are quickly developing quantum computers that can hack anything not protected by quantum cryptography. They are also at the forefront of tests of the fundamentals of physics in space. In addition, with Mozi they have demonstrated quantum teleportation, that will be used in any quantum internet.
Source: THE|DIPLOMAT. Mercy A. Kuo, Quantum Cryptography in the US-China Tech Race…
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