Digital Silk Road; Is it an Anti-Globalization Backlash? Is it Chinese-Style Globalization?

Year 2023, , 34 - 60, 01.10.2023

Necmettin Mutlu

https://doi.org/10.53451/ijps.1225710

Abstract

Digital activities of the Belt and Road initiative called the "digital Silk Road" in the post-COVID-19 outbreak era and initially introduced in 2015 as the "information Silk Road," have come under fire. Finding out whether China's technical improvement, which has become evident in many areas thanks to the Digital Belt and Road initiative project, is a backlash against globalization or a new wave of it done in a Chinese form is the main challenge of this study. Data centers—the backbone of the Belt and Road Initiative—undersea fiber optic cables, 5-G cellular data networks, and Turkish investments in these sectors have all been essential in this regard. This method explores China's technological development from the four modernization periods to the present through a chronological descriptive description. This study should be viewed as significantly contributing to the literature because it provides a system-level examination of the digital Belt and Road endeavor.

Keywords

Anti-globalization, Belt and Road, China, Digital Silk Road, Globalisation

References

• Alibaba Cloud's Global Infrastructure, https://www.alibabacloud.com/tr/global-locations, (10.12.2022)
• Arcesati, Rebecca. The Digital Silk Road is a development issue, Mercator Institute of Chinese Studies,2020, https://merics.org/en/short-analysis/digital-silk-road-development-issue, (14.12.2022)
• Baum, Richard “A Political Perspective on China’s Four Modernizations”, Columbia Journal of World Business,14,sy. 2,(1979):33-36
• Beidou Navigation Sattelite System, http://en.beidou.gov.cn/ , (08.12.2022)
• Bing, Ngeow Chow “China-ASEAN İnformation Harbor: The Digital Silk Road From Guangxi to Southeast Asia”, Report, Published Research, Frıedrıch Ebert Stıftung, 2021.
• Bizchoff, Paul. Surveillance camera statistics: which cities have the most CCTV cameras?, 2022, https://www.comparitech.com/vpn-privacy/the-worlds-most-surveilled-cities/, (09.04.2022)
• Cata Backer, Larry. “Next Generation Law: Data Drıven Governance and Account Ability Based Regulatory Systems İn The West and Social Credıt Regımes In Chına”, Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, sy.1, (2018): 123-172.
• Cheney, Clayton, "China’s Digital Silk Road: strategic technological competition and exporting political illiberalism." Council on Foreign Relations, 2019, https://www. cfr. org/blog/chinas-digital-silk-road-strategic-technological-competition-and-exporting-political (08.12.2022)
• China Embassy Official Website, Statement by the Spokesperson of the Embassy of China in Belgium on "Suspected Alibaba Project Involvement in Espionage, 2021, http://be.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/sghd/202105/t20210508_8977600.htm, (24.12.2022)
• China Internet Connection Information Center Official Website, “Statistical Report on Internet Development in China”, 2019, https://cnnic.com.cn/IDR/ReportDownloads/201911/P020191112539794960687.pdf,(09.04.2022).
• Ching, C.C.“Psychology And The Four Modernizations in China”, International Journal of Psychology,19, sy.1/2,(1984):57-63
• Choong, Alain Yee Loong, Ewelina Lacka, Boying Li, Hing Kai Chan, This person is not on ResearchGate or hasn't claimed this research yet. “The role of social media in enhancing guanxi and perceived effectiveness of E-commerce institutional mechanisms in online marketplace”, İnformation&Management Journal,sy. 5,(2018):621-632.
• DBAR Big Earth Data Analysis and Decision Support System, http://www.opendbar.cn/, (14.12.2022)
• Drones ECU 911, https://www.ecu911.gob.ec/drones-ecu-911/ , (14.12.2022)
• Electronic World Trade Platform, https://www.ewtp.org/, (07.12.2022)
• Embracing the Future with the Digital Silk Road, 2022. http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/zw2018/ss/202209/t20220930_800308148.html, (17.12.2022)
• European One Belt One Road Institute for Economic and Cultural Cooperation and Development, 2019, http://www.euobor.org/index.php?app=OBOR, (20.12.2022)
• Full text of Xi Jinping's report at 19th CPC National Congress, 2017, https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/19thcpcnationalcongress/2017-11/04/content_34115212.htm,(11.12.2022)
• Fung, Kwok-Chiu, vd. "Digital silk road, Silicon Valley and connectivity." Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies 16.3 (2018): 313-336.
• Graham Webster vd., Wang Huning’s Speech at the 4th World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, 2017, https://digichina.stanford.edu/work/wang-hunings-speech-at-the-4th-world-internet-conference-in-wuzhen/ , (14.12.2022)
• Heidbrink, Christiane and Conrad Becker. "Framing the Digital Silk Road's (De) Securitisation." Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, (2022): 1-23.
• Huadong, Guo "Steps to the digital Silk Road." 30.01.2018, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01303-y, (25.12.2022)
• Huadong, Guo, Zeeshan Shirazi, LIANG Dong, LIU Jie, "DBAR–An international science program for the digital belt and road." Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, (2018): 174-182.
• Huawei’s OpenLab Bangkok inaugurated to support digital transformation and the “Thailand 4.0” scheme Launched with more than 40 international and local partners, 2017, https://www.huawei.com/en/news/2017/6/OpenLab-Bangkok-Thailand4, (08.12.2022)
• Jardine, Bradley, China’s Surveillance State Has Eyes on Central Asia, 2019, https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/15/huawei-xinjiang-kazakhstan-uzbekistan-china-surveillance-state-eyes-central-asia/, (14.12.2022)
• Karataş, Zeki. Qualitative research methods in social sciences. Journal of spiritual-based social service research, (2015).1(1), 62-80.
• Kassenova, N., and B. Duprey. "Digital Silk Road in Central Asia: Present and future." Davis: Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies (2021): 1-13.
• Lin, Liang-Hung. “Cultural and Organizational Antecedents of Guanxi: The Chinese Cases”, Journal of Business Ethics,sy. 99/3, (2011):440-497.
• Ly, Bora. "Challenge and perspective for digital Silk Road." Cogent Business & Management, sy.18,(2020): 1-19. Malena, Jorge. "The Extension of the Digital Silk Road to Latin America: Advantages and Potential Risks." Brazilian Center for International Relations, (2021): 1-15.
• Mıstrenau, Sımına. “Life Inside China’s Social Credit Laboratory”, 2018, https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/04/03/life-inside-chinas-social-credit-laboratory/, (09.04.2022).
• Minmetals Development is investigated for ‘concentration of business undertakings, Global Times, 2021, https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1221480.shtml, (14.12.2022)
• Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga ve Michael S. Chase, Borrowing a Boat Out to Sea Nee, Victor “The Political and Social Bases of China's Four Modernizations”, Columbia Journal of World Business,14,(1979):23-32
• Number of Internet users in China from 2012 to June 2022, 2022, https://www.statista.com/statistics/265140/number-of-internet-users-in-china/,(20.12.2022)
• Official Website of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, State Council Opinions on Social Credit System, 2007, http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2007-04/02/content_569314.htm, (08.04.2020).
• Ono, Kinji, Takeo Yamamoto, Toshiro Kamiuchi, Sanobu Kitamoto. "Progress of the digital Silk Roads project." Progress in Informatics 1 (2005): 93-141.
• Sandelowski, Margarete. "Whatever happened to qualitative description?." Research in nursing & health 23.4 (2000): 334-340.
• Qiu, Jack Linchuan and Manuel Castells, “Working-Class Network Society: Communication Technology and the Information Have-Less in Urban China”, Cambridge, MIT Press, 2009.
• SEA-ME-WE 5 Project, https://seamewe5.com/ , (20.11.2022)
• Sen Gong and Bingqin Li, “The Digital Silk Road and the Sustainable Development Goals” The Belt and Road Inıtıtative and The Sdg’s: Towards Equıtable, Sustaınable Development, ed. Gong Sen vd. Vol. 50 No.4, Brighton: Instıtute Development Studies, (2019): 23-46.
• Sen, Gong; Leach, Melissa; GU, Jing. The Belt and Road Initiative and the SDGs: Towards Equitable, Sustainable Development. 2019:1-32.
• Stec, Grzegorz. "The Invisible Silk Road: Enter the Digital Dragon." European Institute for Asian Studies (2018): 1628-1643.
• Submarine Cable Map Project, https://www.submarinecablemap.com/, (14.12.2022)
• The Chinese Military's Use of Social Media for Influence Operations, 2019, https://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP68633.html, (14.12.2022)
• The State Councıl The Peoples Republıc Of Chına, Internet Plus: A driving force of China’s, 2015, Economy, https://english.www.gov.cn/premier/news/2015/08/08/content_281475163721541.htm, (14.12.2022)
• The value of the Digital Silk Road will come to the fore even more in the post-pandemic period, 2020, https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1675252784436792803&wfr=spider&for=%20bilgisayar (09.12.2022)
• Triolo, Paul, vd., "The Digital Silk Road: Expanding China’s Digital Footprint." Eurasia Group 8 (2020): 1-13.
• Tugendhat, Henry and Voo, Julia. “China's Digital Silk Road in Africa and the Future of Internet Governance”, Working Paper, No. 2021/50, China Africa Research Initiative (CARI), School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC, (2021):3-24
• Tugendhat, Henry, ve Julia Voo. China's Digital Silk Road in Africa and the Future of Internet Governance. No. 2021/50. Working Paper, (2021): 1-25.
• Wang, Xinyuan. Social Media in Industrial China, University College London: UCL Press, 2016.
• Wong, Karen Li Xan, and Amy Shields Dobson, “We’re just data: Exploring China’s social credit system in relation to digital platform rating cultures in Westernised democracies”, Global Media & China,sy. 4, (2019): 220-232)
• Woon, Chih Yuan. "‘Provincialising’the Belt and Road Initiative: Theorising with Chinese narratives of the ‘Digital Silk Road’(数字丝绸之路)." Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 62.3 (2021): 286-290.
• World Economic Forum Official Website,2018 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/07/visualizing-the-world-s-20-largest-tech-giants, (14.03.2022)
• World Economic Forum, Annual Meeting of New Champions, 2019, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/07/the-rise-of-techno-nationalism-and-the-paradox-at-its-core/, (14.12.2022)
• World Internet Conference, 4th World Internet Conference, 2017, https://www.wuzhenwic.org/2017-11/09/c_106973.htm, (14.12.2022).
• World Strategic Insights, Opinion; The Rise of the Digital Cold War, 2022, https://wgi.world/the-rise-of-the-digital-cold-war/, (22.12.2022)