Techno-Geopolitics
Techno-Geopolitics explores contemporary U.S.China relations and the future of global cyber-security through the prisms of geopolitics and financial-technological competition. It puts forward a new conceptual framework for an emerging field of digital statecraft and discusses a range of key issues including the controversies around 5G technology, policy regulations over TikTok and WeChat, the emergence of non-traditional espionage, and potential trends in post-pandemic foreign policy.
Analysing the ramifications of the ongoing U.S.China trade standoff, this book maps the terrain of technological war and the race for global technological leadership and economic supremacy. It shows how Chinas technological advancements not only have been the key to its national economic development but also have been the core focus of U.S. intelligence. Further, it draws on U.S.China counterintelligence cases sourced from the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to explore emerging patterns and techniques of Chinas espionage practice.
A cutting-edge study on the future of statecraft, this volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of international relations, security and intelligence studies, information technology and artificial intelligence and political science, especially U.S. foreign policy and China studies. It will also be of great interest to policymakers, career bureaucrats, security and intelligence practitioners, technology regulators, and professionals working with think tanks and embassies.
Pak Nung Wong teaches politics and international relations at the University of Bath, U.K. His recent publications include Destined Statecraft: Eurasian Small Power Politics and Strategic Cultures in Geopolitical Shifts (2018), Discerning the Powers in Post-Colonial Africa and Asia: A Treatise of Christian Statecraft (2016), Post-Colonial Statecraft in South East Asia: Sovereignty, State-Building and the Chinese in the Philippines (2013). He is Editor-in-Chief of Bandung: Journal of the Global South, which he founded with an international network of scholars, practitioners and policymakers in 2013. Apart from publishing in the English language, Dr Wongs Chinese-language columns in Hong Kong-based media have been followed, translated and used by governmental ministries in foreign affairs, defence, security and intelligence services, culture and religion, technology and higher education across the world.
International Politics in the Age of Disruption
Series Editors:
Harsh V. Pant, Observer Research Foundation, India; Kings College London, U.K.
Frank ODonnell, the Fletcher School, Tufts University; the Stimson Center, Washington DC, U.S.A.
Avinash Paliwal, SOAS, University of London, U.K.
International Politics in the Age of Disruption aims to bring together cross-sectoral expertise from across the globe, to inform and mediate academic and policy debates on contemporary global politics. It integrates sophisticated theoretical approaches in international politics and their application, with a policy-relevant focus for professional and academic audiences.
As multiple disruptions strain the post-Cold War global order, new strategic dilemmas for States have emerged in unpredictable ways to create challenges which few are equipped to grapple with effectively.
The volumes in this series explore a host of themes which include the changing global and regional balance of power; technological innovations, artificial intelligence, influence of Big Tech, and their impact on political societies; national security, surveillance, and warfare. The series also discusses non-traditional security threats and the post-pandemic world order; evolving socio-cultural trends such as populism; social media and political advocacy; challenges to economic globalisation; the emerging energy dynamics; and gender and politics, among others key issues in politics.
Techno-Geopolitics
U.S.-China Tech War and the Practice of Digital Statecraft
Pak Nung Wong
For further information about this series please visit www.routledge.com
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2022 Pak Nung Wong
The right of Pak Nung Wong to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-49268-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-49714-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-04710-0 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003047100
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This book was made possible by a few conference presentations invited by the following institutions:
- Wong, Pak Nung (2018). When A.I. Rules the World: Superintelligence and Robotics in Future Interdependency. Presented as Keynote Speech in the 2nd Annual Asia and Middle East Conference on Conflict and Cooperation in the Interdependent World, Institute of Middle and Far East, Jagiellonian University, Krakw, Poland, 1113 April 2018.
- Wong, Pak Nung (2019). How to Ensure Huawei 5G Technology Work for ASEAN Cybersecurity? Lessons from the U.K., Invited Special Lecture by Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, 17 October 2019. Venue: Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
- Wong, Pak Nung (2019). U.S.-China Trade War & ASEAN: Risks, Opportunities & Challenges, Invited Special Lecture by Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, 17 October 2019. Venue: Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
I would like to thank the audience for their questions, which contributed to the research and writing of this book. In Poland, I am thankful for the friendship of Ambassador Jerzy Bayer and his wife, Margaret. In Krakw, I am grateful to the hospitality of ukasz Fyderek, Karolina Rak, Ewa Trojnar and Magda Pycinska. In Kaohsiung, I am grateful to Sister Leung Kit-Fun for connecting me to such wonderful colleagues as Lin Wen-Pin, Ho Khai-Leong and Kai Otto Chang.