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Trade and technology

China’s data management: Putting the party-state in charge


Published 05 December 2023

China has methodically increased control over data flows since 2014, building out its regulatory and institutional framework. With the country accounting for as much as 23% of transnational data flows, and AI increasingly transforming traditional business models, Beijing’s stringent data localization requirements have sweeping implications for global trade, investment, and innovation.

European industry associations and government delegations alike have repeatedly sounded the message to China’s government that its data laws are driving a costly economic decoupling. While Chinese policymakers appear to be listening, security and growth imperatives have persuaded Beijing that the market alone cannot handle data safely and efficiently; the party-state must remain firmly in charge of all key levers of policy and society in China.

The regulatory and institutional overhaul of China’s data governance framework over the past six years frames Beijing’s efforts to harness data as a national resource and a factor of production. During this time, Beijing has considerably strengthened its control and visibility over China’s data flows through party and state agencies like the Cyber Administration of China and the National Development and Reform Commission, as well as through a range of data exchanges, platforms, and clearinghouses that sit in strategic positions in China’s financial, industrial, and social structures.

Increasingly, privately owned Chinese and foreign firms alike must navigate intrusive party state control over data transfers, both within China and across borders. Rebecca Arcesati and Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau of MERICS explain the emerging mechanics of China’s data management in this paper.

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Rebecca Arcesati’s research focuses on China’s technology and digital policy as well as Europe-China innovation relations.

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Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau is Head of Program of "Science, Technology and Innovation" at MERICS.

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The largest European research institute focusing solely on the analysis of contemporary China and its relations with Europe and the wider world.

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