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The Digital War to End War

The explosion of China's mobile economy has paved the way for an even more transformational technology revolution in the country. So, naturally, Winston Ma is back with a tour-de-force on the latter subject, having enlightened us on the former only four short years ago. Ma, with his impressive business and academic background combined with a unique multicultural life experience, is the perfect messenger to explain the current and future state of the world's “digital war”.

“If data is the new oil, then China is the new OPEC”. While now cliché, the catchphrase provides a useful framework for understanding the progression of digital power. With a population of 1.4 billion people, a society of mobile-first internet users, and dominant super-apps in WeChat, Alibaba, and Meituan, China has a massive set of data from which to train AI systems – the more promising avenue for AI development (as opposed to rules-based AI) for the foreseeable future.

However, the availability of data is only one-half of the equation when it comes to technological advancement. The other half is the ability to collect and process that data dynamically. In addition to having the world's greatest reservoir of data, China has become the leader in developing tools to harness it. For example, it is the leader in developing 5G infrastructure. President Xi Jinping has publicly placed an emphasis on building platforms and providing incentives to incubate blockchain startups. Perhaps, most importantly, China has committed to supporting and nurturing the world's greatest tech minds, especially in fields like deep learning, at a time when America (at least temporarily) is attempting to wall itself off.

Ma begins the book with a discussion of the “Sputnik moment” for China when it comes to developing advanced technologies. When AlphaGo, an artificially intelligent system developed by Google's DeepMind lab, handily defeated world champion Ke Jie in a three-game series of the popular game “Go” in May 2017, it spurred an all-out commitment by the government and business leadership in the country to dominate the future of AI.

As a result of a laser focus on digital transformation, the portrayal of China as a copycat of intellectual property is now outdated. While China's tech community used to operate like a rules-based AI, mimicking American technology companies, it now operates more like a neural network, originating ideas and learning through data analysis. The most obvious example of this phenomenon is Chinese technology giant Meituan, which was originally launched based on the Groupon model in the United States. While Groupon ultimately failed, Meituan has flourished into one of China's most influential tech giants.

The success of China's campaign to become the dominant global player in data-driven technologies also leads the reader to a philosophical question about the role of government in society. Government intervention has been an accelerator, not a deterrent, to the development in China of the “iABCD” technologies—the Internet of Things, AI, blockchain, cloud computing, and data analytics. While US politics are today characterized by reactive short-termism and divisiveness, China is effectively executing on 20-, 50-, and 100-year plans. Just as I believe Chinese leaders could learn from elements of the American system, the United States must learn from the rapid progress made by China.

While Ma's earlier book, China's Mobile Economy, is a great prequel to The Digital War, he does a brilliant job of providing stand-alone context within his latest work. An American audience may only have learned about WeChat due to President Donald Trump's efforts to block the app in the United States. However, understanding the scope of WeChat, one of the most powerful apps in the world, is key to understanding the rise of China's digital prowess. The goofy short-video platform of TikTok, on the other hand, is a more recent phenomenon, and it has amassed huge number of US users since the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, is the only technology firm, bar Apple, with more than 100 million users both in China and in the Western markets.

Ma has produced a terrific and highly accessible field guide to understanding how the digital economy is accelerating in China, and what that rapid growth means for China's place in the world. (Both WeChat and TikTok, e.g., are the subjects of US President Donald Trump's executive order to restrict their operations in the United States.) It is an honest and balanced account of the opportunities being seized on by the Chinese and the significant challenges that remain. While the innovation that gave rise to China's mobile economy was impressive, the possibilities created by its progress in the data economy are virtually limitless.

This book is appropriately titled The Digital War, but my great hope is that we can use technology to build a greater understanding between East and West. At a time when the United States is pulling away from the rest of the world under President Trump, China is filling the void. The Belt and Road and Digital Silk Road initiatives are strengthening infrastructure, trade, and investment links between China and emerging market economies. However, the internet is also bifurcating in unproductive ways. Every country in the world is now being forced to choose between China and the United States. In my opinion, the immense potential of Sino-American collaboration is too great an opportunity to miss.

While certain elements of our cultures will likely always remain incompatible, the United States and China have the ability to address myriad intractable global problems together, especially relating to health, climate, and security. The answer is not pulling out of the World Health Organization (WHO) or the Paris Climate Accord. The answer is using data and technology to produce better, fairer, supranational systems and more effective, innovative solutions. Smart, open-minded young experts like Ma – and those who heed the analysis contained in his book – are the ones who will make that possible.

Anthony Scaramucci

Founder and Managing Partner of SkyBridge