Thread by @JohnHemmings2

Thread: very pleased to have just co-authored this critical report on #DigitalChina w/ @ddorman808. Truly, the past 18 months of research have been eye-opening because I was able to work with someone of his caliber. We both think the work is significant: pacforum.org/publication/is…

1st, this is the most important strategy you've never heard of - Beijing's overall strategy for technology development - a digital grand strategy - that is deeply competitive, embedded in Marxist theory, and linked personally to the rise of Xi Jinping. He is its champion.

2nd, while this strategy has been quietly developing for decades, COVID has provided a "window of opportunity" for Xi and CCP leadership to internally promote the development of this strategy as the "overall" strategy ie bigger than Made in China, AI Development, Silk Road.

3rd, this is not only a strategy in wording and rhetoric only. It has a real-world component known as New Type Infrastructure. This is well-resourced to the tune of $2.7 trillion over 5 years. @ddorman808 wrote about this for @WarOnTheRocks here warontherocks.com/2022/03/chinas…

Whether Thru CCP obfuscation, misdirection, or Western inattention, little attention has been paid to Digital China among some of the best China-watchers. Because the of the following three elements, we believe that understanding it is of critical importance to the US and allies.

Because of Marxist assumptions - the CCP has rewritten Marxist economic theory to include data - & materialist overtones, the Digital China strategy is deeply competitive, paranoid, and intent on control (domestic masses and foreign masses thru the design of network architecture)

It is designed to make China more competitive at home - in manufacturing, in governance, in culture, in military power - thru the building of a data highway, a satellite IOT, an industrial internet, 5/6G, and building of national data centers csis.org/analysis/china…

At present, the US and its allies are aware of some sort of strategy, but no one outside the IC has written on what that strategy might be. @ddorman808 and I have attempted to do so, tho realizing that the scope and scale of this massive endeavor requires many more experts

This report is the first of three, which will further detail the strategy, its evolution, its current direction, and level of support and resourcing. We hope to engage with all of you here and at @PacificForum in a virtual roundtable discussion later this year.

This virtual roundtable will bring together the best technologists and China experts to help policymakers understand and - more importantly - assess the Digital China strategy. It will also help develop policy recommendations for USG and allies.
Please stay tuned!