Early on, Silicon Valley was highly dependent on the US military. Even Siri, the voice of Apple’s iPhone, was developed with funding from the Department of Defence research arm, Darpa. But in recent years, Silicon Valley has tried to keep its distance from the Department of Defence, as the recent controversy at Google over a Pentagon contract linked to the use of artificial intelligence shows.

By contrast, the template of co-operation between the Pentagon and tech companies, which did so much for technological innovation in the US in the 1980s and 1990s, is alive and well in China. No other country except Israel has made as much progress in developing cutting-edge tech that has both civilian and military applications in areas from artificial intelligence and robotics to virtual reality.

The growing tension between the US and China is ostensibly about trade but it can equally be seen to be about geopolitics. Many Chinese believe the trade measures that the Trump administration has just adopted reflect the angst of a country that senses its status in the world is being challenged by an ascendant China. Indeed, China is one of the reasons that Jim Mattis, defence secretary, states in the latest National Defence Strategy that terrorism has been replaced by rival nations as the largest threat to the security of the US.