Ryan Hass | Director at John L. Thornton China Center | The Brookings Institution website
Kyle Chan has joined the Brookings Institution as a fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center as of October 2025. He is also serving as a 2025 fellow with the Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations. Before this, Chan worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Princeton University’s Sociology Department and as an adjunct researcher at the RAND Corporation.
In an interview with Ryan Hass, director of the China Center, Chan described his personal and academic background that led to his focus on China’s technological development. "I grew up in Los Angeles as the child of immigrants from Hong Kong. While I always had a personal interest in learning about China, it wasn’t until I started traveling to China during college that I became fascinated by the 'puzzle' of China’s development. I saw a country that defied so much of the conventional wisdom on economic development and managed to transform itself dramatically within a generation. I remember being taken aback by the pace of change, the way that new highways and skyscrapers seemed to spring up like mushrooms. And I remember the heavy air pollution and the weary faces of migrant workers toiling away at construction sites or heading to their factory jobs."
Chan said his time living in India was also significant for understanding different models of development: "Living in India was also a transformational experience for me... But India seemed to operate in a fundamentally different way than China... After a few years in consulting, I decided I wanted to go back to academia and do a Ph.D. in sociology. Princeton’s Sociology Department gave me incredible research training and the ability to conduct in-depth fieldwork in both countries over the course of several years."
On how he began studying technology issues related to China, Chan explained: "I’ve long been interested in the social and organizational roots of what might seem like primarily technical achievements. As part of my doctoral dissertation, I chose to study China’s high-speed rail program, which is the ultimate megaproject of our lifetime... At the heart of it was a story about learning." He noted that China's approach involved pushing foreign firms into joint ventures with local companies and developing domestic expertise through specialized research labs.
Chan observed that this pattern extended beyond high-speed rail: "And it wasn’t just bullet trains. I began to realize that China was doing this across a broad set of high-tech industries, from solar cells and telecom equipment to artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors." He focused on understanding common policy tools used by China for innovation and rapid scaling.
When asked about factors behind China's success in emerging technologies, Chan identified two main contributors: "One is the role of industrial policy. China has been very deliberate about identifying key technologies and targeting them with state support for years or even decades... The other factor is the positive feedback loop created by China’s existing tech sectors and its broader industrial base."
He explained that local governments play an active role supporting industry champions but also warned this can result in price wars or overcapacity.
Chan discussed whether there are lessons from China's approach relevant for America: "At a very broad level, I do think there are lessons the United States can learn from China... One is that active government support can be helpful, if not critical, to supporting progress in emerging technologies at a stage when they may not be commercially viable." He emphasized public sector investment's role alongside private capital.
He added: "Another lesson is that effective industrial policy requires some degree of risk-taking... We let a single case like Solyndra haunt us for years. China takes more of a portfolio approach... I believe we can have public programs with both strong mechanisms for accountability and a greater capacity for making bold bets on emerging technologies."
On U.S. policy toward technological competition with China, Chan stated: "I used to be in the 'run faster' camp when it came to how the United States should approach competition with China. Now I’m in the 'run even faster' camp..." He acknowledged efforts could slow China's progress temporarily but argued long-term competitiveness depends on American innovation.
"There are no shortcuts in the technology race with China," Chan concluded. "In the end, we have no other choice but to innovate and compete."
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