China Emerges As World’s Data Superpower

Table of Contents

What has happened?

China now accounts for 23% of cross-border data flows, nearly twice the share of the U.S., which ranks a distant second with 12%.
Back in 2001, the U.S. was the dominant country when it came to cross-border data flows.
It was the early days of the internet boom, and America was where tech companies and tech-savvy consumers were.
But the global data order is changing rapidly.

A Nikkei survey of information on cross-border data flows from,
The International Telecommunication Union and U.S. research firm TeleGeography,
It analyzed the quantity of cross-border data flows in major countries and regions to determine who has most of the world’s data.

The source of Beijing’s power lies in its connections with the rest of Asia.
While the U.S. accounted for 45% of data flows in and out of China in 2001, that figure dropped to just 25% last year.
Asian countries now make up more than half the total, particularly Vietnam at 17% and Singapore at 15%.

Beijing has used its Belt and Road infrastructure initiative to encourage private-sector tech companies like Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings to expand abroad.
Alibaba spinoff Ant Group’s Alipay mobile payment platform is available in more than 55 countries and used by 1.3 billion people.

As China becomes a global data superpower,
It will control huge quantities of a resource that will be invaluable to its future economic competitiveness.
Data from foreign sources can provide an edge in developing artificial intelligence and information technologies.

China could be the biggest beneficiary of a fractured internet.
A fractured internet means countries that can collect large amounts of data within their own borders will have an advantage in developing artificial intelligence and other technologies.
Nowhere more so than China, with 900 million people on the internet.
There are already signs that population is becoming a key driver in innovation and economic growth.
China’s share in the top 10% of most-cited papers on AI came to 26.5% in 2018,
Fast approaching the American share of 29%.

Q) Which of the following statements regarding International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is correct?

It was established in 1865 and is a specialized agency of UN for Information and Communication technologies.
It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
India is also one of its member.