In this section, we present three essays that collectively seek to document and explain the rise of China's digital economy. The first essay written by Hong Jiang – who is based in China – and myself – who is based in the West – focuses on documenting the rise of China's digital economy by comparing it systematically with developments in the United States (Jiang & Murmann, Reference Jiang and Murmann2022). This first essay intentionally says relatively little about the causes driving the rise so that the two invited teams of commentators could focus on reasons behind the growth of e-commerce and internet services in China. The first team, composed of Chong Ma, Ji-Ye Mao, and Xiao-Peng An (Reference Ma, Mao and An2022), is based in China and the second team, composed of Martin Kenney and Arie Y. Lewin (Reference Kenney and Lewin2022), is based in the United States. Both teams were provided with the opening essay and a set of questions to stimulate a debate about causes.
• Is the increasing strength of these digital sectors intimately tied to government policies? If so, how?
• Is the fact that China is much more lax about privacy a critical reason for the advances in China?
• Will China overtake the US in these digital services or will the fast growth slowdown?
• On the assumption that the geopolitical struggles between China and the US continue to rise, what, if any implications will this have for the further development of e-commerce and digital services companies in China and the US?
• The Chinese government recently has made it more difficult for Chinese firms to list on US stock exchanges; will this have a negative impact?
As you will find out, the two teams offer different perspectives. If after reading the two commentaries you believe that the authors have left out important causal factors behind the rise of China's digital economy or misconstrued their relative importance, we invite you to write a letter to the editor. For an example of such a letter, see Rengarajan's (Reference Rengarajan2019) contribution. We want to stimulate a debate on this important topic and are eager to publish additional perspectives.
Target article
Forum on ‘The Rise of China's Digital Economy’
Related commentaries (3)
Semiconductor Catch-Up Is Not Enough: Twigging the Context of China's Ambitions
The Driving Forces Behind the Phenomenal Rise of the Digital Economy in China
The Rise of China's Digital Economy: An Overview