I just happened to stumble over a study that should be on every serious person’s reading list. It is entitled, “China’s Digital Ambitions: A Global Strategy to Supplant the Liberal Order.” It is from the National Bureau of Asian Research. It is available free to download here.
We have known that Huawei’s 5G wireless communications systems and its “smart city” projects have been part of China’s Digital Silk Road project, which dovetails nicely with its Belt and Road Initiative. Governments that buy these Chinese products have become part of Beijing’s information order. The same is true of those who have purchased facial recognition software, high res cameras, drones and other equipment that can have “backdoors.” The same is true, unfortunately, for those societies that have allowed the massive download of TikTok, which is based on algorithms written in China.
Here is just the beginning of the report, which I offer to encourage you to read the whole thing:
“The Chinese Communist Party has diagnosed that the emergence of data as a factor of production is catalyzing a new industrial revolution. Chinese policymakers view this industrial revolution as a competitive opportunity to leapfrog to leadership of the international system. Beijing’s global digital strategy rests on seizing this opportunity by competing to control international data, its movement, and, by extension, the production, distribution, and consumption of resources and ideas internationally.”
