PRC Pulls Ahead in Quantum Communications Security

Sunny Cheung
Written By Sunny Cheung

This article was originally published in The Jamestown Foundation.

Sunny Cheung

11 June 2026

Executive Summary

  • The People’s Republic of China (PRC) currently leads in the application of quantum technologies, especially secure communications network infrastructure, while the United States remains stronger in foundational research breakthroughs.

  • Even where a U.S. lead remains, the PRC has rapidly closed the gap in the last several years, based on a “scorecard” for assessing relative progress in quantum technologies across foundational technologies, applications, and broader technology and financial ecosystems.

  • The Chinese Communist Party sees quantum technologies as having “immeasurable strategic significance” and is directing resources toward their development to help reduce technological bottlenecks.

Sunny Cheung

Sunny Cheung is a Fellow for China Studies at The Jamestown Foundation. He is also a Global Fellow at the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) and an International Strategic Forum (ISF) Fellow at the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP). He specialises in Chinese politics, cross-strait relations, emerging technologies, and security issues.

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