Tim Byrnes is an unlikely symbol of China’s bid to become the world’s high-tech superpower. For a start he is Australian. Yet the 39-year-old quantum physicist’s decision to swap a research post in New York for Shanghai goes some way to explaining the lengths to which Beijing is going in its efforts to upend the world order.

“Quantum physics is very strong in China,” says Mr Byrnes. “The top groups are as good as anywhere in the world  . . . and doing some amazing things.”

Mr Byrnes is working to develop new technologies that will ultimately, he hopes, help deliver the holy grail of the sector — a quantum computer. His position as assistant professor of physics at New York University Shanghai is the result of a global recruitment drive to hire 10,000 of the world’s brightest minds. Recruitment forms part of a broader strategy to build China’s technological might alongside efforts to restructure its industrial policy through a scheme known as Made in China 2025. Billions of dollars have been pumped into research and the acquisition of overseas assets, unnerving global rivals.