Infrastructures of Data
China’s techno-political progress is particularly visible in the digital sector, where the success of Chinese platform companies raises attention and concerns alike. The international expansion of Huawei, ByteDance, Tencent, Alibaba, SenseTime and others prompts economic, geopolitical and ethical questions, most of which are discussed with reference to the global systemic competition. Conceptually, however, a further step is needed in order to characterize the dual nature of their global effects more systematically. How to understand the relationship between the contradictory dynamics of integration and fragmentation without winding up at digital orientalism? This project focuses on the influence of Chinese data infrastructures, such as the “Great Firewall” and “Digital Silk Road” on the changing Internet governance as a whole as well as on individual digital applications. How are states, societies and companies affected by flourishing practices of “data localization”, the development of new technological standards, and intensifying digital geopolitics? To what extent does the diffusion of Chinese governance discourses (e.g. “digital sovereignty”) not only shape the fragmented nature of data streams and product innovations, but also impact the connectivity created by technological globalization across both authoritarian and democratic political systems? What are the consequences and policy options from a European perspective? And could the strength of Chinese platform companies lead to China’s “digital hegemony”?
Lead
Associate Fellows
Publications
Illusionen der Autonomie? Europas Position in den globalen digitalen Abhängigkeitsstrukturen
Maximilian Mayer & Yen-Chi Lu
SIRIUS – Zeitschrift für Strategische Analysen, Vol. 7, No. 4, 2023
Connectivity, centrality, and adaptation: The coproduction of political space in China’s standardization of autonomous driving technologies
Nicolas Huppenbauer
Global Media and China, Vol. 8/3 (2023)
Special Issue: China’s Cyberpower and its Impact
Maximilian Mayer & Josef Gregory Mahoney (Eds.)
Journal of Chinese Political Science, Vol. 28, 1/2023.
Assessing the Financial and Geoeconomic Implications of China’s Digital Currency
Maximilian Mayer & Amir Elalouf
In: Tim Rühlig (ed.). Europe's Strategic Technology Autonomy from China. Assessing Foundational and Emerging Technologies. DGAP, 2023.
Infrastructuring Cyberspace: Exploring China’s Imaginary and Practices of Selective Connectivity
Nicolas Huppenbauer, Ying Huang & Maximilian Mayer
International Quarterly for Asian Studies, Vol. 53, 3/2022.
Cyberspace Fragmentation from the Perspective of Technology Trends
Ying Huang
The Journal of International Studies, 4/2022. [Chinese only]
Power in the Age of Datafication: Exploring China's Global Data Power
Ying Huang & Maximilian Mayer
Journal of Chinese Political Science, 2022.
Europe has harldy recognized the consequences of its digital dependence
Yen-Chi Lu & Maximilian Mayer
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V., 2022.
Digital currencies, monetary sovereignty, and U.S.–China power competition
Ying Huang & Maximilian Mayer
Policy & Internet, 2022.
Europe’s Digital Autonomy and Potentials of a U.S.-German Alignment toward China
Maximilian Mayer
American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS), 16. Dezember 2021.
China’s Authoritarian Internet and Digital Orientalism
Maximilian Mayer
In: Feldner D. (eds.) Redesigning Organizations. Springer, Cham, 2020.
Donald Trump’s campaign against Huawei is a symptom of digital orientalism, ignoring similarities in Chinese and Western surveillance
Josef Gregory Mahoney & Maximilian Mayer
South China Morning Post, 18. Januar 2020.
Geopolitics and the Global Race for 5G
Xuewu Gu, Christiane Heidbrink, Ying Huang, Philip Nock, Hendrik W. Ohnesorge & Andrej PustovitovskijCenter for Global Studies. CGS Global Focus, 2019.
Media Contributions
- Angriff auf den US-Dollar - Leitwährung unter Druck. SWR 2 Wissen, April 2022.
- Vulnerabilities Disclosure mit chinesischer Prägung: Nutzen und Gefahren. Inside IT, Februar 2022.
- China drangsaliert Tech-Konzerne. Deutsche Welle, Juli 2021.
- Warum China gegen seine Tech-Elite vorgeht. Deutsche Welle, Juli 2021.
Recorced Events
Standards und Staatskapitalismus – Chinas Rolle bei der Setzung internationaler Normen
Standards und Staatskapitalismus – Chinas Rolle bei der Setzung internationaler Normen
17 May, 2023 | Dialogue Series Understanding China's Modernity – European Reflections
Geopolitik und Konnektivität: Chinas strategische Beziehungen mit der Nordatlantischen Region
Geopolitik und Konnektivität: Chinas strategische Beziehungen mit der Nordatlantischen Region
23 June, 2022 | Dialogue SeriesUnderstanding China's Modernity – European Reflections
Events
Fifth AECAIR International Conference: Artificial Intelligence Solutions in a Turbulent World
Online conference | 18 November 2022
The fifth AECAIR conference discussed subthemes such as “Smart Solutions for Systems in Transition” and “AI Solutions for Autonomous Mobility”.
Fourth AECAIR International Conference on Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence
Online conference | 17 December 2021
The fourth AECAIR conference discussed Sino-German AI cooperation prospects, AI landscapes in China and the EU, as well as the Realities and fictions of AI competition between China and the EU.
Online-Conference on Digital Fragmentations and Digital Sovereignty
Online conference | 17 & 18 September 2021
Tensions are rising between the vision of an open, global Internet and state tendencies to invoke sovereignty in cyberspace. This conference adressed this debate and advanced theorizations and conceptual understandings of digital sovereignty and fragmentations in cyberspace.
Chinas wachsende Datenmacht - Implikationen für Europa
Online panel | 07 July 2022
The event from the dialogue series "Understanding China's Modernity - European Reflections" focused on the concept of "data power" and took a close look at China's data policy with a special focus on its relevance for Franco-German and European strategic coordination.
Comparative Analysis of Platform Governance in the US and China
Online panel | 23 - 25 June 2021
The Internet Governance Project (IGP) at the Georgia Institute of Technology brought together scholars from China and the West to explore problems in platform governance.
China as Digital Superpower: An American-German Workshop on Digital Infrastructure and Digital Security
Workshop | 08 December 2020
This workshop surveyed top priorities and concerns in Berlin and Washington regarding digital challenges from China and how they are being translated into policy initiatives to rethink digital infrastructure and strengthen digital security on both sides of the Atlantic
Framing the Future of AI – Policy Dilemmas and Solutions
Online seminar | 27 November 2020
Innovation in Health Governance and AI – AECAIR-Seminarreihe zu Erfahrungen mit AI-bezogenen Technologien während der COVID-19-Pandemie
Online seminar series | 22 June – 06 July 2020
The partners of AECAIR (Asia-Europe Consortium on AI Research) took the COVID 19 situation as an opportunity to discuss in a three-part online seminar series the question of what concrete measures have been taken in various countries in Europe and Asia to counter the pandemic with AI-related applications and what experiences and approaches can be expected for dealing with AI in the future.