Technology

#51 Public Vales of Chinese Digital Technologies and their Impacts on Europe

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Key Takeaways 

  • Chinese digital technologies are increasingly ubiquitous in Europe and come with consequences, but their values and governance models remain poorly understood in comparison with their US counterparts.
  • China and the EU differ fundamentally on the relationship between digital technology, the state, and individual rights, but these differences should not obscure important areas of value convergence.
  • The Chinese state exerts substantial influence over digital companies, even as private companies continue to act with a significant degree of agency and independence.
  • China’s digital governance is simultaneously among the world’s most restrictive for individual liberty and the most ambitious in regulating and harnessing digital technologies in governance.
  • Adoption of AI in China is uneven across society and technologies and reveals the same fundamental public value tensions as in Europe. It can be driven by top-down policy or societal forces and popular trends.
  • Public values travel with technology exports, but the values of Chinese digital technologies are not uniform. Each app has different norms.

China Knowledge Network

The Dutch China Knowledge Network (CKN) is a network established to involve China experts and disseminate knowledge within the government of the Netherlands and beyond.Our key task is to connect various angles of research and events to better understand China’s motives, policies and vision to develop more effective policies and better advise social partners. The secretariat of the knowledge network has been assigned to think tank Clingendael together with LeidenAsiaCentre. They will function primarily as ‘knowledge brokers’, matching the supply and demand of knowledge.

 

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