Cyber & Tech Policy in China: Lifting the Veil

7-hour Interactive Workshop

Great expectations, Limiting realities

Understand China’s cyber and tech policy architecture and underlying values
Analyse central–local implementation gaps and their strategic implications
Reassess “cyber superpower” narratives with institutional and capacity evidence

This one‑day workshop offers a critical, research‑based tour of China’s evolving cyber and technology policy. It is grounded in over 15 years of scholarship by Greg Austin, including two books and other studies. Participants examine Beijing’s digitalisation strategy through rarely used primary sources—internal planning documents, national “information society” blueprints, technical ministry reports and elite speeches—rather than recycled secondary commentary. The course introduces a nine‑value framework for evaluating China’s digital governance ethics and invites participants to apply it to censorship, surveillance, and data governance. It also highlights under‑examined gaps between central visions and local implementation, and offers fresh, evidence‑based perspectives on China’s cyber power and US–China cyber stability debates.

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Academy Home

KEY THEMES

China's Brands in ICT: At Home & Abroad
Innovation Ecosystem in China: What Benchmarks?
Chinese Sources of Analysis and Information
Foreign Sources of Analysis and Information
Case Study 1: Quantum Sensing
Case Study 2: Artificial Intelligence
Case Study 3: Outer space
Case Study 4: Cyber Security
Case Study 5: Drones
Case Study 6: Decision Advantage

URGENCY AND RELEVANCE

In a time of destabilisation of international security, increasing unpredictability of the US tech funding to universities, and increasing preparations for military confrontation or war, there is an increased urgency in accurately assessing China's civil and military technology. It is a field long characterised by exaggeration and undisciplined analysis, aggravated by China's lack of transparency and failure to engage with some of the most important Chinese-language sources. There is intensifying pressure for countries to cut research ties with China in industry and basic science, notwithstanding the global need to partner with China in addressing the climate emergency.

BLENDED LEARNING INTERNATIONAL

The program is delivered by the Social Cyber & Tech Academy, in partnership with Blended Learning International, an Australian Registered Training Organisation with more than 20 years experience in Australia and overseas.