Digital authoritarianism in China undermines democratic values #Forum2000online

April 29, 2021

“Chinese government in recent years has built the most advanced digital technology for its domestic censorship and surveillance and also become a sort of influential force in the world for the global authoritarianism.“ 

Xiao Qiang is a Research Scientist at the School of Information, Berkeley, California, and the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of China Digital Times, a bilingual Chinese news website. He has been named in the Foreign Policy magazine's Pacific Power Index list of "50 people shaping the future of the U.S.-China relationship in 2015“. In our latest #Forum2000online Chat, produced in cooperation with Sinopsis, Mr Qiang emphasized the need to recognize the threat that China represents in the global contest over the dominance in the digital sphere. While some people view it as a primarily economic conflict between raising economic power and existing dominant power, China´s digital authoritarianism challenges more important aspects of the social order we live in – values of freedom and democracy. 

“It´s not simply about hard power struggle, this is about the most fundamental and precious human values in every society, universally.“ 

The interview was recorded on April 19, 2021, and moderated by sinologist and journalist Kateřina Procházková, Sinopsis, Czech Republic. 

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