An Emerging Digital Wall

2025
Buch

Verfasst von: C. Y. Cyrus Chu
Verlag: Springer Nature Singapore
Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"; Springer Professional "Technik"; Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Über dieses Buch

Diese Monografie konzentriert sich auf Konflikte in den IKT (Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien) im Kontext der Pattsituation zwischen den USA und China. Der Autor identifiziert wichtige Aspekte der IKT-Entwicklung und diskutiert in Bezug auf jeden Aspekt die Strategien, die sowohl von den USA als auch von den USA verfolgt werden. und China. Zu den diskutierten Themen gehören die Entkopplung der Hightech-Branchen, Exportkontrollen und die Liste der Unternehmen, Regulierungen ausländischer Plattformen, Handelsbarrieren im Cyberspace, Blockchain und ihre Anwendungen, Big Data und KI, Cyberangriffe und -penetrationen sowie internationale Gegenreaktionen im digitalen Zeitalter. Diese strategischen IKT-Interaktionen bilden zusammen allmählich eine digitale Mauer, die die Welt in zwei digitale Lager (grob gesagt, demokratisch und autoritär) spalten soll. Zwischen diesen beiden Lagern sind die IKT-Branchen entkoppelt, die entsprechenden Lieferketten sind teilweise getrennt, die Datenerfassung zwischen den Lagern ist eingeschränkt, die Vernetzung der Infrastruktur ist getrennt, und verschiedene IKT-Anwendungen sind mehr oder weniger autark. Der Autor war zuvor Minister für Wissenschaft und Technologie in Taiwan.

Mit KI übersetzt

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1:. Introduction: From Geographic Space to Cyberspace

Abstract

During the past thirty years, the digital revolution has transformed the traditional transportation of “atoms” in the physical space into the transmission of information “bits” in cyberspace, and the advances in transportation technology have also reduced the importance of distance barriers. Both of these factors have changed the role of traditional interactions in the geographic space and have correspondingly expanded cyberspace confrontations. This chapter highlights the various forms of cyberspace competition, penetration, and battles in recent years, mainly between the U.S. and China, and explains why such cyberspace interaction games to be introduced in later chapters are different from the ones in the physical space. We also briefly review the related literature and identify the distinction of our approach.

C. Y. Cyrus Chu

Chapter 2. China’s Economic Growth and Aggressions: 1994–2024

Abstract

China has been very aggressive in the international arena in recent years and has started to challenge the U.S. hegemony in many ICT areas. Of course, such aggressions are supported by China’s expansion of its economic capacities, revealed by its extremely rapid economic growth over the past several decades. This chapter provides a brief introduction to China’s stellar growth record and addresses the contribution of China’s joining the WTO, which was welcomed by the U.S. a few decades ago. Along with the expansion of economic capacity, China’s confidence and ambition have increased, and the China-U.S. conflicts have gradually shifted from economic aspects to technological aspects. The timelines of the above-mentioned events are identified and discussed. Since the final result of the U.S.-China cyberspace interactions will depend on their future relative economic capacities, we examine the pros and cons of a Leninist regime (vis-à-vis a democratic one) in the era of innovation-driven growth, which China has entered.

C. Y. Cyrus Chu

Chapter 3. The Rise of Cyberspace

Abstract

The significance of cyberspace interactions encompasses several factors, namely, the proliferation of smartphones, the widespread deployment of base stations, the rapidly growing network of undersea cables, the advances in communication speed, the ability to squeeze billions of transistors into a small chip, the breakthroughs in lithography technologies, the coverage of thousands of low-earth orbit satellites equipped with high-resolution cameras in the sky, and so on. This chapter explains how the concept of cyberspace has been concretized by such technological advancements and infrastructure deployments, and how such factors have together changed the game of both domestic control and international interactions.

C. Y. Cyrus Chu

Chapter 4. Technology-Denial: Decoupling the ICT Industries

Abstract

The most important factor facilitating the creation of a digital wall is technology decoupling. This chapter explains how the U.S. uses the ECCN (export control classification numbers), the destination regulation (country map), and the recipient regulation (entity list) to form a comprehensive web which prevents the high-tech commodities and components of the democratic camp from flowing into “countries of concern,” mainly China and Russia. These measures are targeted at some vaguely defined “emerging and foundational technologies,” which essentially decouple the supply chain and final specifications of high-tech industries into two separate camps, one in the democratic group and the other in the authoritarian one. In response, China has imposed export controls on certain rare earth elements, which are indispensable in some high-end weapons. We explain that, because military uses cannot be compromised, decoupling in some sectors of the cyberspace industries is likely to be a natural consequence.

C. Y. Cyrus Chu

Chapter 5. Data Collection Denial: Segregating the Platform Industries

Abstract

Other than technology denial, a factor facilitating the construction of a digital wall is the restriction on data collection. Internet platforms often collect big data from users. When these platforms are owned or can be controlled by foreign adversaries, they give rise to concerns that these big data may be used by foreign governments on a future D-day to cause some damage to the country in question, which is often referred to as a “national security threat.” An essential question often asked in democratic countries relates to the interface between the national security concern and freedom of expression. A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling (2025/01/17) on TikTok strengthens the legal justification for data collection denial based on possible D-day threats. In regard to the question of whether such foreign platforms distort content on a daily basis, we propose an experimental method which helps us identify the possible existence of algorithm interference.

C. Y. Cyrus Chu

Chapter 6. Cyberspace Trade Barriers

Abstract

While the Trump administration treats tariffs as an effective trade barrier, China has long identified another more effective trade barrier in cyberspace. Although the Internet facilitates communication and reaching out, blocking the internet service seriously impedes information gathering and market access. China’s Great Firewall (GFW) has made it difficult for Chinese to access international platforms and websites, and has therefore created a trade barrier. This chapter describes how this cyberspace trade barrier is implemented, as well as the kinds of trouble it has caused for e-commerce buyers as they try to search, browse, compare, and place orders. We explain why the current WTO rules cannot deal with it, and why democratic countries such as the U.S. cannot retaliate by imposing counteractive measures. We also provide the empirical estimate of the impact of China’s GFW on the trade and welfare of both China and the U.S.

C. Y. Cyrus Chu

Chapter 7. Blockchain Applications as Digital Networking

Abstract

An important factor facilitating the building of a digital wall is the networking effort by both democratic and authoritarian camps, and blockchain is a salient example. Blockchain technology is an ICT area in which China is ahead of the U.S. in terms of granted patents. A blockchain is a diversified ledger network protected by sophisticated information cryptology. This technology has many applications in areas including supply chain management, carbon footprint tracing and, most notably, cryptocurrency. Democratic countries such as the U.S. pay more attention to its application to cryptocurrency; by contrast, authoritarian regimes focus on other uses of this technology, treating them as potential ICT application networks which are parallel to the existing Western doctrine. This chapter explains how the divergence in focus determines the distinct deployment that we observe between China and the U.S. In the future we expect to see a proliferation in the deployment of blockchain-related applications in China’s close allies, which increases the resilience of the coalition led by China.

C. Y. Cyrus Chu

Chapter 8. Difficult Regime Transition Across the Digital Wall

Abstract

It is well known that some cyberspace tools can be more efficiently implemented by users due to their particular features. As for the tool of AI, we show that the side which has better access to big data will be the side that can use AI more efficiently. We explain why an authoritarian government (relative to its citizens) has this data advantage, and how this advantage may be used to oppress the civil society forces and sustain the stability of the authoritarian regime. Using the term adopted by Acemoglu and Robinson (Acemoglu and Robinson, The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty, Penguin Press, 2019), we show that AI reduces the probability of accomplishing the process of democratization. The checks and balances in democratic regimes, on the other hand, tend to prevent the government from abusing its big-data advantage, and hence sustain the democracy.

C. Y. Cyrus Chu

Chapter 9. Penetrating Through the Digital Wall

Abstract

Cyberspace penetration may take various forms: stealing business secrets, sending malware to opponents’ computers, cutting off support networks for public utilities, sabotaging enemies’ core facilities, taking the wind direction of the media, affecting voting behavior, and encroaching upon the privacy of key public officials, etc. These penetrations do not require large amounts of funding, do not directly result in casualties, are usually not known to the outside world, can be launched at a place thousands of miles away, and are not governed by international conventions on engagement rules. Some have even described that cyberspace penetration is a “perfect weapon.” We explain in this chapter that, while many countries try to launch cyberspace penetrations, democratic regimes usually face more institutional constraints.

C. Y. Cyrus Chu

Chapter 10. Sensitivity of International Digital Coalitions

C. Y. Cyrus Chu

Chapter 11:. Conclusions: The Digital Wall as a Self-Fulfilling Expectation

Abstract

We summarize the various cyberspace interactions mentioned in the previous chapters and explain how, when combined, they create a cyberspace wall. Countries on both sides of the wall form coalitions, with the expectation that at some time in the future they can thrive without having to rely on the interactions with countries on the other side of the wall. These ex ante coalitions and preparations, together with the denial of technology and data collection between the two camps, tighten the network on each side of the wall, and at the same time cut off the reliance on countries on the other side of the wall. As a result, the expectation regarding the possible formation of a cyberspace wall becomes self-fulfilling.

C. Y. Cyrus Chu

Titel: An Emerging Digital Wall
Verfasst von: C. Y. Cyrus Chu
Verlag: Springer Nature Singapore
Electronic ISBN: 978-981-9535-77-4
Print ISBN: 978-981-9535-76-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-95-3577-4

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An Emerging Digital Wall

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1:. Introduction: From Geographic Space to Cyberspace

Chapter 2. China’s Economic Growth and Aggressions: 1994–2024

Chapter 3. The Rise of Cyberspace

Chapter 4. Technology-Denial: Decoupling the ICT Industries

Chapter 5. Data Collection Denial: Segregating the Platform Industries

Chapter 6. Cyberspace Trade Barriers

Chapter 7. Blockchain Applications as Digital Networking

Chapter 8. Difficult Regime Transition Across the Digital Wall

Chapter 9. Penetrating Through the Digital Wall

Chapter 10. Sensitivity of International Digital Coalitions

Chapter 11:. Conclusions: The Digital Wall as a Self-Fulfilling Expectation

Backmatter

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