When China’s Communists hold their 19th Party Congress in October, the choreography of the event will be as stiff as ever and broadcast the image of a rigid and unchanging political system. This image is wrong. With the help of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, the Chinese leadership is thoroughly reshaping its approach to economic and social governance. China’s determined pursuit of the digital transformation presents a fundamental challenge to democratic political systems.
Technological innovation may be tilting the systemic competition between models of political and economic governance in China’s favour. Ten years ago, the internet revolution seemed to present a threat to authoritarian rulers. Today, the Big Data revolution plays into their hands.
China’s Communist Party has embraced this opportunity and is equipping the country’s political system with the hardware and software that the digital transformation provides. In this reconfigured system, central co-ordination and control, termed “top-level design” by the Xi Jinping leadership, are intended to become an asset, not a restraining factor, for technological innovation, economic performance and political stability.