In the western part of Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, there is a mountainous area surrounded by dense forests, and one of the mountains is known as the "Green Hell" - the Nürburgring race track, due to its danger.
This track is famous for being used by major car companies such as BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche to test performance.
In the 2025 race, this track witnessed a new electric vehicle performance test event. The Chinese company Xiaomi - which manufactured its first car the year before the race - completed the track in 07 minutes and 05 seconds, faster than the previous record of 07 minutes and 07 seconds set by Porsche.
As a world-renowned venue for car performance competitions, Xiaomi's victory - a company known for mobile phones and home appliances - symbolizes China's rapid and unexpected rise to a leading position in clean energy and significant technological advantages.
The rise of Xiaomi, a company with less than 20 years of history, also reflects the intense competition between it and the American company Apple. Apple stopped developing its electric vehicle project last year, despite having invested significant efforts in it over the past decade.
The technological competition between Apple and Xiaomi, as well as the success of Chinese companies in the sales market, is just a part of China's successful rise in manufacturing, a success that the United States cannot stop.
This topic has become the core of a study released by the Horizon Research Center, titled "The Reasons for China's Rise and Why the United States Has Not Been Able to Halt or Contain Its Rise."
Apple vs. Xiaomi
The study starts by reviewing Xiaomi's growth journey, proving its strong rise and influence in the market, despite its short time since establishment. The study points out that Xiaomi was founded in Beijing in 2010 by engineer and entrepreneur Lei Jun and several former Google and Motorola engineers, with the vision of "innovating high-quality technology at an affordable price for everyone."
Within a few years, Xiaomi became one of the most popular brands in the Chinese market, then expanded to the Indian, European, and Middle Eastern markets. By 2021, Xiaomi briefly surpassed Apple to become the second-largest smartphone seller in the world, behind only Samsung.
In 2021, Xiaomi officially announced its entry into the smart electric vehicle field, and in 2024, it launched its first model, the "Xiaomi SU7," positioned as a direct competitor to American Tesla. This car set a performance test record on the Nürburgring track in 2025, demonstrating its engineering and performance capabilities.
On the other hand, the American computing technology giant Apple had considered developing an electric vehicle in 2014, which was in line with its financial capability at the time - its market value reached $600 billion, and its cash reserves reached $40 billion, far exceeding Xiaomi's financial resources.
However, the United States does not have China's energy system or manufacturing capacity, so Apple could not easily utilize existing infrastructure.
The result was that Apple's board of directors halted the electric vehicle development project, which had lasted for 10 years, dissolved one-third of the project team, and redirected the remaining personnel to research and development in the field of artificial intelligence.
The study reminds people that the competition between Apple and Xiaomi in the electric vehicle sector reflects China's rise and the confusion of the United States in responding to or hindering this process. It also raises the question: Can China continue to maintain this remarkable momentum of rise? Will the United States still find it difficult to find effective ways to block or stop this momentum?
The Reasons for the Rise of the Chinese Model
In recent years, despite Western optimism about China's economic slowdown and its inability to surpass the United States as the largest economy, China's manufacturing model has shown impressive growth rates. The main reasons include:
1 - Self-sufficiency in Manufacturing and Technological Advancement
The strategic goal is driven by a firm political intent. In 2015, planners in Beijing announced the "Made in China 2025" plan, an ambitious project aimed at leading future industrial development.
The plan aims to develop China's manufacturing capabilities in areas such as energy and high-tech materials, reduce reliance on imports and foreign companies, and enhance the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises in the global market.
The Chinese government has promoted this vision with substantial financial support, investing 1% to 2% of its GDP annually. Because of these efforts, China has successfully taken the lead in the drone market and made significant achievements in the field of industrial automation.
2 - Deep Infrastructure Investment
A major reason for the rapid rise of the Chinese model is the country's investment in infrastructure and systems that promote innovation and efficient production. These infrastructures include transportation systems, such as highways, railways, and ports.
Over the past 30 years, China has built a highway network covering the entire country, twice the length of the U.S. highway network. Additionally, the length of China's high-speed rail network exceeds the total of all other countries combined, and it has also built a large port network, where the cargo throughput of Shanghai Port exceeds all U.S. ports combined.
This study compares the highway and high-speed rail networks of the United States, the European Union, and China, indicating that as of the end of 2024, China had 190,000 kilometers of highways, while the United States had only 78,700 kilometers, and the European Union had only 75,000 kilometers.
3 - Successful Construction of a Digital Network
China has established a local internet network and rapidly covered almost all residents, while also controlling or blocking external networks to prevent them from entering the domestic market.
The development of the internet network has brought significant advantages to China's industrial field and established a high-tech ecosystem.
4 - Progress in the Power Sector
Electricity has become the core of China's infrastructure. Over the past 30 years, China has led the world in power plant construction and now produces more electricity annually than the combined total of the United States and the European Union.
This abundant power supply has driven the rapid development of power-dependent transportation systems, especially high-speed rail and electric vehicles.
Other factors that have contributed to the rise of the Chinese model include increased industrial labor force, growing ambition among entrepreneurs, and the fact that efforts by the United States to restrict the export of AI chips have not been fully effective.
Despite these reasons strongly driving the development of the Chinese model.
The Reasons Why the United States Could Not Halt China's Rise
These reasons mainly include:
1 - Disregard for China
Some American leaders still hold an outdated impression of China, believing that China is still backward in industry and technology, and therefore ignore the huge changes that have occurred in China.
2 - America's Dominance in the Technology Field
The United States holds an advantage in many important fields, such as software, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence, as well as the innovation system led by American universities, which makes the United States indifferent to China's rise.
3 - America's Inferior Infrastructure Compared to China
The United States has not updated its infrastructure built in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, and worse, it has not established deep infrastructure sufficient to meet today's major technological challenges.
4 - Shrinking of the American Industrial Sector
A core reason for the failure of the United States in preventing China's rise is the continuous shrinking of the American industrial sector, with issues such as delayed product production, worker layoffs, and declining production quality becoming more severe.
In addition, American companies also face challenges in providing low-wage labor similar to that in China and India.
The study pointed out that the recent decision by former U.S. President Trump to impose tariffs as high as 100% on China may have widespread and complex effects.
Although the motivation behind this decision is to respond to China's control over rare metals and strategic supply chains, there are many obstacles and limiting factors, which weaken the effectiveness of this policy. This makes it no different from other ad-hoc policies that attempt to hinder China's rise, lacking comprehensive planning and coordinated political efforts, and thus is expected to bring no substantial changes.
The study concludes that the United States is currently helpless in dealing with China's technological and manufacturing advancements, merely trying to hinder China without focusing on creating an environment conducive to innovation and manufacturing. If the United States continues to withdraw from the global system and its institutions, China will inevitably fill the gap.
Sources: Al Jazeera + Electronic Website
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7570129095892206086/
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