Digital diplomacy of USA and China in the era of datalization

Abstract

Among the numerous discourses on US-China relations in recent years, issues of the influence of digital international relations (which include such areas as digital/data diplomacy, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI) development, and the influence of information projects in social networks) are rarely given explicit consideration. At the same time, all these elements have come under the pressure of datalization and takes a big pleasure on the place of states in the world politics. This article reveals the phenomenon of one the most important element of digital international relations — digital diplomacy of the USA and China — and focuses on the political and academic discourses about this foreign policy instrument in these countries. The first part of the study presents academic discourses on digital diplomacy of Chinese and American experts, provides characteristics of PRC and US digital diplomacy, trends and role in bilateral relations. The second part of the article reflects the existing strategies and projects in Chinese and American digital diplomacy in relation to each other. The authors stated that digital diplomacy evolved from just an instrument of international information broadcasting to the full-fledged foreign policy mechanism which already has visible elements, structural connections and an evolutionary path of development with difficult methodology and institutional regulation, covering the issues of public diplomacy and cybersecurity, and which is the main instrument of the new ideological and economic confrontation of two powers.