A Growing Digital Divide?

In recent months, the trade war between the U.S. and China has expanded to include spats about technology and security – most notably in the discussion around Huawei. But there is an underlying issue: China and the West have fundamentally diverging views on how technology is shaping society. While Western societies have become very critical about the influence of technology on democracy, political discourse, and social cohesion, China takes a different – and generally more positive – view: Technology is seen as an enabler of societal trust and economic progress.

Where do these different attitudes come from? And what do they mean for the relationship between China and the West? In this special live taping of Sinica, the leading English-language podcast on Chinese issues, host Kaiser Kuo will talk to Kristin Shi-Kupfer, research director at the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for Chinese Studies and author of a recent report on China’s digital rise, and Evgeny Morozov, influential author and technology critic.

Program:
18:00 – Doors open
18:30 – Kaiser Kuo in conversation with Kristin Shi-Kupfer and Evgeny Morozov
19:30 – Q&A
20:00 – Apéro
20:30 – End of Event