Trade War Jeopardizes China's Fusion Energy Drive

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China joined ITER in 2003 with its Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) as a testbed for ITER technologies. A Tokamak is a donut-shaped vessel designed to confine a superheated plasma using magnetic fields.

Adopting a so-called“whole-of-nation” approach, China has significantly boosted its investment in fusion energy since 2022 as the previous Biden administration curbed the country's access to the chips, AI and quantum computing sectors.

Last year, the US invested about US$1.35 billion in the fusion sector while China poured in about $1.3 billion, according to the Fusion Energy Base, an industry website. As of 2024, the US has invested $5.63 billion in the sector, compared to China's $2.49 billion. They were followed by Canada ($321 million) and the United Kingdom ($200 million).

In January 2025, the EAST reactor successfully maintained a steady-state, high-confinement plasma for 1,066 seconds. In February, France's WEST (Tungsten Environment in Steady-state Tokamak), formerly known as Tore Supra, achieved a record-breaking 1,337 seconds.

Laban Coblentz, head of communications of ITER. Photo: Asia Times /Jeff Pao

“As an American, I want my country to win the [fusion energy] race. But ultimately, we are all going to build plants globally,” said Laban Coblentz, head of communications of ITER.“As much as we have been bashing China, what I would really like to see people doing is emulating China.

“China is actively constructing 26 [nuclear plants] with another 22 in the pipeline. They are building it on schedule with a strong safety program. How did they do that? I had no idea.”

On a recent trip to Beijing, Coblentz discovered that China embedded about 140 French companies in its supply chain to construct its Hualong Two, a third-generation pressurized water nuclear fission reactor.

“I know some of my friends go to the US Congress and say: If we don't go faster, China is going to win the war on fusion. That's fine,” he said.“But if there is this reputation: China steals other people's intellectual property, [we should] learn from what they are doing. They're doing some really smart things. And fusion is going to need to replicate some of those things intelligently if we want this to be the generational change for our kids.

“The Hualong Two and the Hualong One look a lot like a European pressurized water reactor, but [are] largely indigenous. So rather than worry about China stealing or any of that, steal back! Imitation is a very good thing to look at how they are doing and what they're doing well, and emulate that.”

Deep talent pool

In addition to getting resources from ITER and French companies, China has also built a local talent pool by sending students to the US to study fusion technologies.

Jin Zhang, an assistant professor in Microwave Electronics, School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London. Photo: Asia Times /Jeff Pao

“In China, we've got many PhD students, and we've got scientists coming back from the USA to China to work on fusion energy projects in Energy Singularity in Shanghai,” Jin Zhang, an assistant professor in Microwave Electronics, School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, told Asia Times in an interview.

“They have built the first high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tokamak in the world. Things are developing really fast in China.”