the 1er Last October, China showed the world its military power with the parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the regime. The stated goal is to prove that its army is modernizing to the highest degree. Chinese efforts to master AI should not be neglected. The stated dream of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is to be the leading power in this area. In addition, China remains a leading player in cyberspace. For example, in 2018, the number of Chinese internet users was estimated at 800 million. To understand the strategy of this power with a view to acquiring technological superiority in terms of AI, we must understand the structure of its cyberspace allowing it to capture a maximum of data with a view to the development of AI.
The establishment of a national intranet: the Chinese Big Brother
Cyberspace has been seen as a development priority by the CCP to increase economic growth. From then on, the entire digital development on Chinese territory was driven and coordinated by the Single Party.
As early as 1993, the Joint Council for National Economic Informatization was founded with the aim of designing and planning the national network. Since 2008, this Council has merged with other entities to become the Ministry of Industry and Information Technologies. According to the CCP's speech, 4 billion yuan, approximately 300 million euros, were invested between 561 and 1997. In addition, a fiber optic cable network was set up to consist of seven cables at maritime optical fiber, and twenty terrestrial fiber optic cables. The PPC has also launched extensive research programs to increase the capabilities of its Internet network. Thus, China has invested massively in the IPv2009 network. This technology has made it possible to increase the number of available web addresses. Indeed, when the Chinese Internet network was in IPV6, there were not enough different IP addresses for the needs of Chinese users. The adaptation to IPV4 made it possible to counter this restriction. Many plans have detailed the objectives that China aims for in its cyberspace. For example, the current goals set for developing China's Internet network depend on the National Informatization Development Strategy (6-2006) developed in November 2020 and updated by the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan 2005-2016. This state involvement also allowed the Party to limit the number of ISPs. In fine, China's network architecture consists of nine ISPs all licensed and linked to the CCP. These allow Chinese Internet users to connect to the global network. The main ISP, China Public Computer Internet, enjoyed a near-monopoly by providing Internet access to 80% of Chinese Internet users in 2007.
The Party's framework on China's Internet architecture explains that Chinese cyberspace is considered a national intranet. In fact, the nine ISPs are in practice “real border posts of the Chinese network” by limiting foreign content for Chinese Internet users. As Chinese political power is authoritarian in nature, data control has been a priority to ensure its authority. To this end, China uses Internet censorship, contrary to what is claimed in the White Paper on the Internet situation in China, which has a chapter called “Ensuring citizens freedom of expression online”.
However, the emergence of the Internet has changed the way Chinese political authorities communicate with the population. From a one-way dialogue coming from the Party towards the population during the Maoist years, the current Party wishes to dialogue with its population. But this dialogue remains strictly supervised by the Party. For example, on April 31, 2019, the Chinese authorities made around a hundred Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) obsolete by updating their Firewall. Opponents of China's government system used VPNs to escape Party censorship on the Internet. The Party's control over the middle fifth is called the "Golden Shield" or the Great Firewall in reference to the Great Wall of China. The CCP's actions are justified by its Internet philosophy. “On Chinese territory, the Internet is under the jurisdiction of Chinese sovereignty. China’s Internet sovereignty must be respected and protected.”
Through the limited number of ISPs, the Chinese government ensures that foreign internet content is filtered in order to limit it for Internet users located on its territory. Likewise, real Internet patrols are rampant on the Chinese intranet. They ensure that certain keywords, or even subject themes, are inaccessible. As such, the events in Tian'Anmen Square and the independence of Tibet are prohibited. This censorship was mocked when the term Winnie the Pooh was banned. Indeed, Chinese President Xi Jinping was compared to this fictional character by opponents of the regime.
Furthermore, the CCP uses the data of Chinese citizens in ways to govern the social order. By the end of 2020, the social credit system should be fully established in Chinese provinces. Every Chinese citizen will be rated based on certain criteria, such as legality and morality, controlled by the CCP. Depending on their rating, certain services will be offered to them, or, conversely, withdrawn. At the moment, only citizens' banking history is applied. For example, 23 million Chinese defaulters have been prevented from traveling.
The Chinese market being an ever-expanding breeding ground, Western digital companies are trying to establish themselves there by following Party directives. For example, in 2005, Yahoo revealed the name of a dissident, Shi Tao, to the Chinese authorities, thereby arresting this opponent of the regime. Similarly, Google applied Party censorship to its search engine in 2006, and is reportedly considering launching a search engine specifically tailored to the Chinese market. Indeed, the Chinese desire to strengthen control of information on the Internet in China tends to continue. The latest White Paper, published on July 24, 2019, states that national cyber sovereignty and information security must be preserved. The overlap between BATX and the CCP was proven by the creation of the Chinese Federation of Internet Companies aimed at censoring any content contrary to the values of the CCP. The vice-presidents of this federation are the leaders of the BATX.
By establishing the Great Firewall, the CCP was able to strictly control the datasphere of its territory, revealing digital borders through these practices. But Chinese ambition tends to extend internationally.
BATX: spearhead of Chinese digital strategy
Unlike Russia, China has real companies linked to information and communication technologies (ICT) that will compete with GAFAM. These are mainly Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaom (BATX). These four companies have the unconditional support of the CCP.
This state protectionism explains the lack of presence of GAFAM on Chinese territory. For the moment, the presence of BATX still remains anchored on Chinese territory. Alibaba is the main online shopping platform in China while Tencent is the most common messaging application. The PCC established its digital sovereignty by establishing BATX. From then on, the Party ensured that BATX would not face competition on the national market from foreign companies. Their relative visibility on Western markets is due to their expansion primarily affecting the Asian region and developing countries where GAFAM has less of a base. As proof, in Indonesia, Alibaba has invested massively in the Indonesian e-commerce platform Lazada.
In addition, the New Silk Roads desired by the CCP have a digital aspect aimed at creating a digital Silk Road. Relatively unknown at the moment, this is one of the aspects of the New Silk Roads which will have the most impact for the territories linked to this ambition. Indeed, these states will use technologies from Chinese digital companies such as the fiber optic backbone desired by Beijing. Therefore, Chinese establishment in such infrastructures represents a risk to the digital sovereignty of these States. Chinese ICT will have an easier time developing the digital network in these territories than a local company. The danger is therefore to see these Chinese companies dominate these local markets to the point of forming a Chinese digital oligarchy. Cloud is the main risk area for Chinese companies to dominate the Digital Silk Road. However, it is announced that many Western companies, such as Oracle, will establish partnerships with China to cover the future Cloud needs of these areas. Indeed, Beijing does not want to have a monopoly on the New Silk Roads. If this were the case, its gains, particularly reputational, would be too limited in relation to the efforts invested. One of the major fears of this digital Silk Road is data surveillance by China. States, European in particular, wish to avoid a scandal that could be comparable to the American PRISM program.
The success of the merger of the public and private spheres with a view to mastering AI
On March 12, 2016, DeepMind's "AlphaGo" AI won its series of confrontations against South Korean Go game champion Lee Sedol. This success is considered a real feat because this game includes a multitude of combinations. The game of Go was considered a major milestone in the development of AI. This success was a trauma for China. Indeed, the game of Go is of Chinese origin and has long been dominated by players from this state. Thus, in 2017, China published its national AI strategy. Three major stages stand out from this official document.
First, the objective is to have made a major discovery by 2020 in order to be able to establish its standards at the international level in terms of AI. To this end, China intends to increase the number of its specialists in this area.
Secondly, the CCP intends to have implemented disruptive technology in the field of AI for mainly civilian purposes such as medicine, smart cities and industries. However, military uses are not excluded. This disruptive technology could concern “national defense construction”, that is to say the construction of Chinese national defense. As with its first objective, the goal is to innovate first to set legal and ethical standards in the most legitimate way possible.
Third, China wants to be the main and dominant power in terms of AI from 2030. To this end, it has announced investing 22 billion euros in AI until 2020, then increasing to 59 billion euros. euros per year by 2025. However, the Pentagon estimates that this figure is gold and already well exceeded at around 70 billion.
Thus, the field of AI is an effective way to strengthen China's economy and international standing. It is well remembered that AI will affect all areas. Therefore, it is vital for China to position itself as the main power in this area to hope to acquire this market which is estimated at 15 trillion dollars.
To achieve its goals, China benefits from a structural advantage. The CCP controls both public and private spheres. These spheres are historically linked. Therefore, the BATX are essential actors for the Party in order to carry out its AI projects. Thanks to their development in the Chinese domestic market, these companies have been able to invest massively in this area. The company Tencent has inaugurated a laboratory dedicated to machine learning, while Alibaba has launched an AI research program estimated at $15 billion over three years.
However, BATX's interest in this technology preceded that of the Chinese state. In 2013, Baidu launched its Deep Learning Institute to improve its AI capabilities. In 2014, the same company opened a research center in Silicon Valley. Similarly, in 2015, Baidu executive Robin Li proposed the “China Brain” plan to the CCP. The program's proposals are at the heart of China's national AI strategy. Thus, the desire to increase the number of specialists, funding, and to support innovations are the main keys.
In addition, China does not have legislation protecting personal data. It is therefore easy to have a large quantity of data. Concerning Chinese territory, the PCC can therefore exploit the data of 800 million Chinese internet users, not counting those of individuals whose digital presence is captured by video surveillance for example. Anonymity is a disappearing concept with the emergence of smart cities increasing the number of cameras, therefore potentially the risk of the omnipresence of facial recognition.
In order to establish its ambitions, Chinese researchers are increasingly present in the field of research publications related to AI. Thus, between 2001 and 2010, China produced only 554 publications related to this technology compared to 6 for the United States. However, the positions were reversed over the period 046-2011. However, quantity does not imply quality.
However, the CCP is suspected of displaying a greater capacity for innovation in AI than it really is. Indeed, the number of researchers specializing in AI is a priori insufficient for the three objectives cited to be accomplished according to the given dates. It is therefore vital that China captures brains effectively if it wishes to meet its target deadlines. This desire to capture minds tends to be gradually put in place but its effectiveness remains fragile. For example, in 2014, Baidu managed to convince Andrew Ng, a pillar of deep learning research, to head its research center in the field. However, in 2017, the latter left the Baidu group. His resignation was not isolated, Baidu had to overcome the departure of some of its AI pillars.
To maintain the most promising profiles for its AI programs, the CCP also wants to limit the migration of Chinese students and engineers to the United States so that they incorporate national companies.
Finally, the United States maintains its technological advantage in the materials necessary for the development of AI. Indeed, overseas companies such as Intel or Nvidia maintain their leadership in microprocessors. However, these components are essential for refining AI learning methods. For illustration, Intel is involved in the construction of an “Aurora with Intel” supercomputer supposed to be delivered by 2021. China is trying to overcome this delay by building its own microprocessors such as XuanTie 910 by Alibaba via its subsidiary Pingtouge.
Thus, China still positions itself in the position of outsider although it cannot yet claim to be at the head of the powers in terms of AI. However, only China seems able to compete head-on with the United States. in this domain. However, the will of the European Union is emerging with the aim of becoming the arbiter of this rivalry by imposing its standards such as its ethical guidelines.