China-US trade tensions spring partly from concerns that China gives tax breaks to its companies to boost exports, but it would be a mistake to think that an aggressive defense alone will somehow prevent China's technological success, said Rafael Reif, president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an op-ed on The New York Times on Aug 8.

He believes China is now advancing aggressively to assert technological supremacy in critical fields of science and technology.

China is also a world leader in fields like mobile payment and facial and voice recognition, it has capacity to rapidly ramp up large-scale production of advanced technology products and quickly bring innovation to the market, he said.

Reif added that trade measures by the United States against China, even if effective, would not allow the US to relax back into a position of unquestioned innovation leadership, said Reif. If the US wants to remain its advantage in the technology field among nations in the world, it should double down on strengths and make their vision real.