Digital Confrontation between USA and China: Economic and Political Dimensions

Abstract

China turned out to be the only rival to the US in terms of producing digital products sold in the global market. Digital confrontation, previously defined as economic competition between the United States and China in the fields of development, production, application, and control over digital products and social media platforms, has been transformed into political and ideological deterrence. The United States maintains its leadership in the world of technological innovations and is aimed at rolling back China’s informational activity in social media and its digital products from the markets of both the United States and target regions and countries indicated as a concern of US national security. The administration of Biden has intensified this confrontation by introducing the so-called policy of digital split with China limiting its access to US innovations, blocking social media platforms, and creating an anti-Chinese alliance in cyberspace. This study assesses China’s actions in cyberspace, including issues of digital expansion in African, Asian, and Latin American countries; information campaigns in social networks; and cyber-attacks in the United States. The countermeasures of the United States against the technological growth and expansion of China have been identified in the areas including the establishment of an anti-Chinese digital coalition, the policy of digital connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region, the bilateral cyber diplomacy, and restrictions on the dissemination of Chinese digital products and social networks in the United States. The study concludes that the United States has embarked on a large-scale reduction in China’s technological growth and cyberpower over the next three to five years.