Over the past two decades, General Secretary Xi Jinping has been at the center of party efforts to create a comprehensive digital strategy of immense proportions, known as Building Digital China, or more often simply Digital China. While sounding much like an industrial strategy, Digital China is never described as such internally. In broadest terms, it is a major strategic decision made by Xi Jinping in the aftermath of the 18th Party Congress in 2012 to digitally transform the nation. For the more technically minded, it is the overall strategy for national informatized development in the new era. Although mostly unknown in the West, Digital China has enormous implications for China’s developmental path, great-power competition, and the norms that will undergird the international system for decades to come.
David Dorman, “China’s Plan for Digital Dominance,” War on the Rocks, March 2022
My first effort at a short description of the Digital China national strategy. Comments, corrections, and criticisms welcome.
Original Title of Article: Digital China – The Signature Xi Jinping Plan for Digital Transformation and Great Power Competition You’ve Never Heard Of