The rise of digital technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), has transformed societies and international politics. China has responded to the transformation and strived to become one of the global leaders. What is China’s approach toward the objective? Who are the major players and stakeholders in the making of digital policy? How has the Chinese state worked with various stakeholders? To what extent has digital technology influenced China’s authoritarian governance? How has Chinese society responded to digital authoritarianism? Can China prevail in shaping global digital rulemaking? This edited volume seeks answers to these important questions. Divided into three parts, Part I examines how the central state has become a leading player and coordinated with various stakeholders, such as academic institutions, corporations, and local governments, in making digital technology policy. Part II analyses how the Chinese party-state used digital technology to strengthen authoritarian governance and how society has responded to digital authoritarianism. Part III explores China’s attempt to shape global digital rulemaking in competition with the US and other Western countries.
This book is aimed at scholars, researchers, policymakers, and students with an interest in digital technology, international relations, Chinese politics, and authoritarian governance. It will also appeal to those studying AI, digital governance, and global power dynamics.
The chapters in this book were originally published in the Journal of Contemporary China and come with a new introduction.
Edited by:
Suisheng Zhao (University of Denver USA)
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 246mm,
Width: 174mm,
ISBN: 9781041042792
ISBN 10: 1041042795
Pages: 215
Publication Date: 08 August 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Introduction: A State-led Approach toward China’s Digital Policy 1. Centralized Regime Gaining Information Capacity: Can China Approach Innovation Frontiers? 2. China’s artificial intelligence ethics: Policy Development in an emergent community of Practice 3. The Chinese Conception of Cybersecurity: A Conceptual, Institutional and Regulatory Genealogy 4. Modernization Planner, Authoritarian Paternalist, and Rising Power: Evolving Government Positions in China’s Internet Securitization 5. Urban Management in Authoritarian China: How the Smart City Is Used to Enhance Comprehensive Law Enforcement 6. Digital Governance in China: Dispute Settlement and Stability Maintenance in the Digital Age 7. Hold on to the Green Horse’: Popular Imaginations of the Health Code and the Cultivation of Algocratic Attunement in China in the COVID Era 8. Chinese Influence through Technical Standardization Power 9. Chinese data governance and trade policy: from cyber sovereignty to the quest for digital hegemony? 10. China’s Digital Yuan: Motivations of the Chinese Government and Potential Global Effects 11. Shaping AI’s Future? China in Global AI Governance
Suisheng Zhao is Professor and Director of the Center for China-US Cooperation at Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, USA. He is the founder and editor of the Journal of Contemporary China and the author and editor of over two dozen books and hundreds of academic articles.
