China’s Digital Expansion in the Global South

For those wanting to understand implications for the Global South of China’s emergence as a digital superpower, this book analyses China’s digital impact in Latin America, North Africa and Asia, covering issues including platforms, e-commerce, technology transfer and digital surveillance. It also incorporates a major literature review that outlines a six-part future research agenda.

At the intersection of China’s growing global presence and growing digital power lies its digital expansion in the low- and middle-income countries of the Global South. Worth billions of USD annually in trade and investment, and having a significant impact on these countries’ social and economic development, this phenomenon has been relatively ignored by researchers to date. This major new volume provides significant new insights that help advance our knowledge of this important topic. A systematic review of literature identifies key issues within the field and outlines a six-part future research agenda. Those issues are then explored in greater depth: reviewing the relationship between activities of Chinese platform firms, the state’s Belt and Road Initiative, and local context in the Global South; investigating the activities of Alibaba as it has sought to grow its operations in Mexico; analysing whether two Chinese tech giants – Huawei and ZTE – are contributing to an upgrading of local technological capabilities in Algeria and Egypt; and digging behind portrayals of China exporting “digital authoritarianism” to understand the realities of surveillance system exports to countries in Latin America.

Overall, the book fills important gaps in our understanding of China’s digital expansion in the Global South, and challenges preconceptions and one-sided views of this major recent activity. It was originally published as a special issue of The Information Society.

Richard Heeks is Professor of Digital Development at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester, UK. He is Director of the University’s Centre for Digital Development, with research interests around digital transformation, digital uplands and the geopolitics of AI.

Christopher Foster is a Senior Lecturer at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester, UK. His research focuses on the digital economy, digital governance and the implications of innovations on the global distribution of production, work and labour.

Ping Gao is a Senior Lecturer at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester, UK. His research focuses on IT innovation and policy, especially in the Chinese context and from a government perspective.

Xia Han is a Lecturer in International Business at the Alliance Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester, UK. Her research draws from political economy and international business to explain the expansion of emerging market multinational enterprises with a focus on Chinese firms. She looks at the implications of international relations for MNEs.

Nicholas Jepson is a Lecturer at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester, UK. His work examines the global political economy of the rise of China, particularly in relation to development in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. He leads the finance working group for the China in Europe Research Network (CHERN).

Seth Schindler is Professor of Urban Politics and Development at the University of Manchester, UK. He is also the co-founder of the Second Cold War Observatory. He previously coordinated the MA in Global Studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany.

Qingna Zhou obtained her PhD degree at the University of Manchester, UK. She is serving as an interdisciplinary lecturer across the International Business Group in the Alliance Manchester Business School and the Global Development Institute. Her research interests include digital multinationals, digital transformation, and China’s digital expansion in the Global South.