Faced with the threat of decoupling from the US, China must use its huge market and engage in greater cooperation to build a resilient digital supply chain system

Digital geopolitics is the reflection of traditional geopolitics in the digital space. The purpose of countries involved is to contend for dominance over digital space while strengthening their control over the physical space.

The push from the United States to decouple from China in the digital sector, the European Union's pursuit of "tech autonomy" and "data localization", and Russia's quest for a "sovereign internet" all epitomize the increasingly geopolitical tendency in the global digital landscape.

The competition among nations to wield control over key digital technologies, such as computing power, algorithms and data, has led to an increasing number of conflicts. This will not only lead to changes in international power relations and the transformation of the international order but also exacerbate the security dilemma in the digital space.

Geopolitical thinking is reshaping the future of the digital realm, and the curtain has been raised for competition among major countries in digital geopolitics. As the world's most important digital superpower, the US is a hegemonic power in the global digital geopolitical arena that seeks to maintain its dominance.

Its international policies on digital technology and domestic policies of various nations are deeply influenced by the US' geopolitical thinking. This is especially evident in the digital strategies of the Joe Biden administration, which emphasizes the critical importance of the digital technology to US national security and global leadership, with dominance in key digital technology spheres such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and blockchain being strategic pillars of Washington's digital geopolitical approach.

The rise of Asia represents a major change in digital geopolitics compared to traditional geopolitics, with China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations all playing important roles in the global digital technology system. Asia has all the essential elements of the digital space, from computing power, algorithms to data. Japan, the ROK and China's Taiwan region control more than half of the global chip supply chain. China has a large number of internet platform companies, which gives it a certain edge in algorithms. China, India and ASEAN have a large base of users, generating massive amount of data. Meanwhile, Europe, which occupies the central position in traditional geopolitics, has taken a less important position in the field of digital technology. Despite the fact that European digital technology companies boast strong core technologies and a high level of specialization, a lack of large platform companies with global competitiveness has weakened the EU's digital competitiveness.

The companies can only serve as an essential link in the supply chain. As a result, Asia is gradually replacing Europe as the center of the global digital geopolitical landscape. Digital geopolitics in Asia is inevitably affected by traditional geopolitics. And the US is ratcheting up its efforts to compete for digital geopolitical power in Asia.

In traditional geopolitics, countries mainly take into account geographical factors and gain initiative through control of strategic locations, leading to the development of geospatial strategies such as control over air and sea areas. Conflicts between countries also revolve around the competition for land, sea and air dominance. However, the digital space, a man-made virtual space, has taken on forms of conflict and characteristics that are more complex than traditional geopolitics. Digital technology, the foundation of the digital space, is the primary target for digital geopolitical competition.

Digital technology has now entered an era characterized by high computing power, high-quality data, and cross-modal algorithms. The competition in digital geopolitics, focusing on computing power, algorithms and data, has become more complicated. The fight over computing power centers around the control of CPUs, GPUs, and other high-end chips. The development of chips, which follows Moore's law, is the heart and source of energy for the digital space. Algorithms are like brains that enable the functioning of task programs by mobilizing computing power and data. Let us take the example of ChatGPT, behind which is a type of large language model. The breakthrough achieved by high computing power combined with the algorithm greatly increased productivity, significantly changing the balance of power in digital technology.

Under the influence of the Matthew effect in digital technology and digital economy — which suggests that the rich will do better than the poor — the US may continue to see stronger national strength, and its dominant role in the international order will rise further. Although China is considered the only country capable of challenging the US in the digital domain, it is facing unprecedented suppression and containment by the US.

However, China's nearly 1.1 billion internet users — accounting for more than 20 percent of the world's total — are the core foundation on which the nation can withstand any external challenges. Therefore, despite its inability to challenge the US' hegemony, China's strength will also remain relatively stable.

From the perspective of digital geopolitical strategy, the US has been taking a covert approach in its "digital conquest" of other countries, with China being one of the major powers capable and ready to push back. Beijing has thus been the target of more direct blockade and suppression from the US. It is not only necessary for China to build a digital ecosystem to cope with decoupling from the US and its blockade, but also to engage in broader international cooperation, using its huge market to build a resilient digital supply chain system. In particular, it should increase investment in the digital Silk Road, take advantage of the nation's edge in digital infrastructure development and encourage Chinese companies to participate more effectively in global competition and follow the trend in the global digital economic transformation.

The author is a professor and director of the Research Center for International Cyberspace Governance at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.