The writer is rector of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna
Tech wars between west and east are nothing new. During the cold war, the US and its allies competed fiercely with the Soviet Union in space exploration and weapons systems. More recently, competition between the US and China has been heating up. Ironically, this time Europe stands to be the biggest loser.
The US and its allies founded the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls in 1949 to prevent the eastern bloc gaining access to western technology that might enhance its military and economic capability. The committee’s impact increased significantly under President Ronald Reagan with a ban on the sale of microprocessors, computers and oil extraction technology to Warsaw Pact countries. From the late 1970s, western technological advances created an unbridgeable strategic gap, helping to speed the collapse of the Soviet Union.