Description
Book SynopsisIn recent years, China has become a world leader in e-commerce, e-currency, 5G and artificial intelligence, cementing itself as a major competitor to established powers. Gerald Chan poses the question: How has China pulled this off? Arguing that the answer lies in the country’s Digital Silk Road, a multi- faceted programme to connect the world via digital means, the book explores how China has shaped the development of the digital order, secured a critical role in internet governance and upset the status-quo powers.
Integrating empirical research with innovative theory, this forward-looking book is the first of its kind to unravel the complex web spun through China’s Digital Silk Road. Chapters offer a unique Chinese perspective on the evolution of the global digital economy and digital currencies, highlighting China’s growing influence in driving technological development and setting global industrial standards. Following on from Chan’s previous publications on the country’s high-speed rail networks and maritime infrastructure, China’s Digital Silk Road offers a timely look at China’s predominant role in shaping the global digital order.
Advancing a geo-developmental framework to analyse China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the book will be of unique interest to students and scholars of Chinese politics and global development.
Trade Review‘Professor Gerald Chan’s latest addition to his trio on China’s Belt and Road Initiative examines the background of China’s technological drive and assists readers to better understand the escalating tension over technology – and ultimately the contest for global hegemony – between China and the United States. Readers will find its informal writing style easy to follow, which is important for an otherwise complex subject.’ -- Linda Chelan Li, City University of Hong Kong
‘China’s new Silk Road, or Belt and Road Initiative, is massive in scope, with implications reaching beyond the future of China and humanity, and into space. And this book, also huge in scope, is everywhere far-sighted, thoughtful, perceptive, analytical and interesting. A splendid read for anybody interested in humanity’s future.’ -- Colin Mackerras, Griffith University, Australia
Table of ContentsContents: Preface and acknowledgements 1. Introduction to China’s Digital Silk Road 2. The new Silk Road: land, sea, digital 3. Theorising the Belt and Road: geodevelopmentalism revisited 4. The digital Silk Road: driving the fourth Industrial Revolution? 5. The mobile Silk Road: digital economy and the e-yuan 6. The cable Silk Road: over the land and under the sea 7. The space Silk Road: reaching for the stars? 8. Digital diplomacy and internet governance 9. Conclusion Index
