From “bringing-in” to “going-out”: transnationalizing China’s Internet capital through state policies

Abstract

The exponential growth in China’s information and communication technology (ICT) sector has attracted increasing academic interest. Mainstream accounts have focused on issues of access and control, and critical scholars have examined the dynamic shaping forces. Building on the framework of political economy, this study adopts a historical approach to the Internet as a complex site of power interactions. The study examines the historical process by which China has opened its ICT industry to transnational capital. In tracing the policy changes related to this move, this study examines the historical stages that have been critical in the transnationalization of China’s Internet: the initial opening of China’s ICT sector; the introduction of financial capital; and the recent “going-out” initiatives. In doing so, the study addresses a gap in the current scholarship regarding the history of bridging China’s Internet to transnational capital, particularly the regulatory context. The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of the dialectical role of the Chinese state, which has been more constituting than containing in transnationalizing China’s Internet.