Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues

Of course, with this growing disparity also comes “winners.” On both sides of the Pacific, American and Chinese Internet companies are entering an unprecedented period of technological advancement and market dominance. For example, Xiaomi, a Chinese electronics company, is building low-cost smartphones that have generated huge consumer demand in India. In India and other developing countries, rising mobile Internet connectivity is slowly bridging the digital divide between urban and rural populations. As large swathes of China remain rural and economically developing, the Chinese electronics sector is uniquely positioned to meet the specific product needs of low-income consumers without access to reliable Internet connections.

Like those companies in China, enterprises in America’s Silicon Valley have also started to focus their attention on developing markets. The internet giant Google has launched a company-wide initiative to get the “next billion users” online across much of the developing world. This initiative includes projects like Loon, which will deploy a network of high-altitude balloons that beam LTE connection to remote populations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Similarly, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also advocated for increasing rural Internet access through the highly controversial “Free Basics” program, in which first-time internet users would be given connection that only included Facebook applications and services.

Thus, given the strong American and Chinese technology enterprise interest in the proliferation of Internet access in developing countries, policymakers in the United States and China should work to empower bilateral private sector collaboration globally to bridge the digital divide. This is because both America and China have strong national economic and political interests in a world with higher overall internet connectivity and non-entrenched private monopolies. On the economic front, more connected consumers in the developing world creates new high-growth markets for American and Chinese technology companies to compete and innovate, which in turn generates jobs and economic growth domestically. Politically, a world in which people have access to shared critical knowledge sources such as news articles and online university courses may curb violent extremism or ultra-nationalism. Finally, developing economies will benefit if new internet infrastructure allows for local entrepreneurs to start web-based companies and services domestically.

Clay Garner is a senior at Stanford University majoring in East Asian Studies with a focus on media and politics. 

COMMENT FROM CALEB HUFFMAN (November 21, 2016):

Clay, an interesting analysis of the potential China-U.S. private business collaboration for the spread of the internet. Perhaps this may be negligent of me to ask, but is spreading internet connection really that beneficial?

You outline three reasons for spreading internet access in your final paragraph. The first and third seem legitimate. The second reason, which claims that access to the internet may curb extremism or ultra-nationalism, I take issue with. In fact, to the contrary, communication research suggests the internet provides a space for reinforcing echo chambers, fodder for extremism.

Overall, I do agree that expanding internet access will be more beneficial than harmful. I would add one stipulation to the private enterprise partnership: no limits on what can be accessed via the internet. For the internet to maximize its potential, it must be distributed with no strings attached.

COMMENT FROM MINGYAN "AMY" DUAN (November 21, 2016):

I agree with you that China and the United States should work to empower bilateral private sector collaboration to bridge the digital divide. I come from the southwestern part of China. When I was young I had almost no access to internet, so I felt isolated and left behind both in connection to the world and in educational resources during my teenage years. When I came to Beijing for university things got a lot better for me, but my brothers and children younger than I are still in trouble. Even if they have much better access to internet now, they don’t know how to use it to improve their lives economically and educationally--what they do with it is all games. Therefore, I strongly suggest China and the United States should also work together to educate people from rural areas, especially children, on how to effectively use the internet.