Asian Review of Political Economy最新文献

This article examines the concept of the "middle technology trap" as a critical challenge for China in transitioning from a middle-income to a high-income economy. It argues that overcoming this trap is essential for China to achieve high-quality economic development and sustain its growth momentum. The study compares China's technological landscape with that of both developed economies and those stuck in the middle-income trap, identifying the necessity of transitioning from applied to original technology for economic leapfrogging. Through comprehensive analysis, it is highlighted that China's current technological capabilities, although leading in certain areas, predominantly remain at an intermediate level, characterized by a significant reliance on foreign core technologies and a lack of original technological innovation. The paper further explores historical contexts, policy implications, and strategic reforms required to navigate this trap, emphasizing the importance of an open policy, the cultivation of a robust innovation ecosystem, and the strategic role of government in facilitating technological progress and industrial upgrading. It draws on the experiences of developed economies and successful latecomers, advocating for a "new whole nation system" that embraces openness and global integration, rather than isolation. By analyzing the complex interplay between technology diffusion, talent migration, industrial policies, and the global geopolitical landscape, this study provides insights into the systemic reforms and strategic initiatives China must undertake. It stresses the need for a balanced approach between leveraging external technologies and fostering domestic innovation capabilities to escape the middle technology trap and secure a position as a global technology leader. The findings contribute to the broader discourse on technology-led development strategies and offer policy recommendations for economies facing similar technological and developmental challenges.

This special issue explores the relationship between digital trade and security, emphasizing the geopolitical implications for the global economy in the digital age. The rapid growth of digital trade has introduced significant challenges and opportunities, necessitating robust data governance to balance national security interests with the free flow of goods, services, and data across borders. The papers explore the different models of data governance championed by the US, China, and the EU, highlighting the complexities of cross-border data flows and their impact on international relations. Through detailed analyses of various international agreements and frameworks, this special issue provides a comprehensive overview of the current landscape of digital trade and its security implications, with a particular focus on China's evolving approach to data governance and its global influence.

China, the European Union, and the United States are the three largest digital economies in the world. This article compares the antitrust regulation of the digital economy in the three regions after the 2000s. It argues that over time, the antitrust regulation of the digital economy in the three regions tends to converge along three dimensions: growing separation of the antitrust regulation of the digital economy from that of the other economic sectors, convergence of regulatory objectives, and convergence of regulatory methods. In combination with the geopoliticization of the platform economy, this article argues that four factors have contributed to shape such convergence: (1) historical factors, (2) globalization of the digital economy, (3) increasing policy imitation and policy competition among the major digital powers of the world, (4) support from the civil society.

The full understanding of the importance of submarine cables as part of the global network infrastructure in the digital economy era, along with decades of knowledge accumulation in this field, has not prevented Hong Kong from facing increasing difficulties in gaining more access to submarine cable systems since 2017. Given that geopolitical differences between China and the U.S. are dividing the international network infrastructure, the business interests of Hong Kong enterprises and the urban development prospects of the Hong Kong government have been forced to defer to Beijing’s security concerns. Meanwhile, in recent years China has been acquiring data power by modelling the “data collection – data sharing – data space governance” path that the United States and its allies set previously. During this process, the power shaped by China’s unique technological, social and institutional characteristics offers an alternative to American dominance, although it exacerbates the global divergence of internet infrastructure. Many projects along the Belt and Road Initiative and the Digital Silk Road are the examples of China’s data power projection, and will bring opportunities for Hong Kong’s own submarine cables sector and for the city’s role as a super connector in the coming years.

Amid economic globalisation and the rapid development of advanced technologies in recent years, the world economy has shown an increasing trend of digitalisation, whilst digital trade has become the primary pattern of international trade. Based on differences rooted in socio-political systems, as well as the current precarious geopolitical realities, governments adopt different ideas in accordance with their respective interests in the institutionalisation of digital trade. As the world’s second-largest economy and a major digital power, China’s behaviours and ideological stances attract scholarly attention and states’ concern. Whilst Western countries and scholars have criticised China’s ideas of “government intervention in data regulation” and “cyber sovereignty” applied in its existing approach to digital trade, warning that China’s approach poses a threat to Western powers’ adherence to liberalism in the international digital trade system and the idea of “free data flow” in their approaches to digital trade, there has been insufficient research into how China’s approach to digital trade has evolved over time and which ideas and interests have influenced it. To bridge this gap in the literature, this paper divides the evolution of China’s approach to digital trade over the past three decades (1993–2023) into three phases using a longitudinal approach. This research conducts qualitative content analysis using official documents, white papers, and declarations from official Chinese websites, then adopts the 3I analytical framework to analyse which ideas and interests have influenced China’s approach in each phase and how its approach to digital trade has evolved over time.

How has China’s privacy protection strategy been developed, with its broad scope and stringent requirements for data localization and cross-border data flows? What are the broader geopolitical implications of its divergence from Western models of data privacy? This paper argues that China's privacy protection strategy, characterized by its comprehensive regulatory framework and government access to data, is redefining the contours of global data governance and creating new geopolitical fault lines. Drawing on official documents, laws, regulations, and a case study, this paper highlights the evolution of the regulatory framework in response to emerging challenges posed by technological innovations and the wider geopolitical environment. This paper contributes to the broader discussion regarding the implications of China's privacy protection approach, highlighting potential normative clashes with countries that favor a more open digital economy. China's efforts in developing its own privacy protection strategy have also resulted in the formulation of global standards for data privacy.

This study examines sustainable development cooperation and the effectiveness of sustainable development partnerships in supporting national development in meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study focuses on SDG 17, “Building Partnerships for Sustainable Development” and takes the Lao Democratic People’s Republic (Laos) as its case study. The study assesses Laos’s socio-economic condition, development trajectory and SDGs. It evaluates Laos’s development partnerships with China and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and wider development diplomacy. The study adopts a political economy perspective, drawing in global major power competition. The paper argues that development partnerships are pivotal to success in achieving national and global development goals. Laos holds the ASEAN Chair through 2024, whilst experiencing severe economic challenges domestically. Moving between these two domains, Laos will seek to achieve balance and even-handedness between regional and global interests. Laos’s long-standing development partnership with China and the BRI brings tangible results. However, the study concludes that greater diversification in building partnerships for development will provide additional support to Laos’s development strategy.

Political scientists have crafted intricate taxonomies to classify nations beyond liberal democracy, positioning these societies along an authoritarian continuum. Despite the pivotal role of journalists in accelerating political dynamics, there exists a lack of comparative research on media governance in these regimes. Consequently, this study scrutinizes the media governance ecosystems in Vietnam and Singapore. Vietnam is a one-party authoritarian state, whereas Singapore represents a hybrid political system. However, both countries exhibit a stable and uninterrupted rule by the respective ruling party. Our research uncovers the nuances of Singapore’s media regulation, which embeds trusted stakeholders with financial interests in key press roles to reinforce the implicit political norms. Conversely, Vietnam employs a more direct, coercive, and state-centric approach. Media actors in both nations occasionally test the boundaries of acceptable discourses, with each government’s responses being shaped by specific contexts and broader history. Reforms in Vietnam, embracing privatization and commercialization, mirror Singapore’s integration of capitalism, public ownership, and commercial interests when governing media. These findings highlight diverse yet effective authoritarian media governance strategies, unique features, and commonalities in both systems. Overall, media structures in these Southeast Asian countries have undergone profound evolutions towards more sophisticated regulatory tools to manage societal and political transformations.

Existing studies show that regulation is a major barrier to global economic integration. Nonetheless, identifying and measuring regulatory barriers remains a challenging task for scholars. I propose a novel approach to quantify regulatory barriers at the country-year level. Utilizing information from annual reports of publicly listed companies in the U.S., I identify regulatory barriers business practitioners encounter. The barrier information is first extracted from the text documents by a cutting-edge neural language model trained on a hand-coded training set. Then, I feed the extracted barrier information into a dynamic item response theory model to estimate the numerical barrier level of 40 countries between 2006 and 2015 while controlling for various channels of confounding. I argue that the results returned by this approach should be less likely to be contaminated by major confounders such as international politics. Thus, they are well-suited for future political science research.