I’m back with the second article in this series. In this article, I would like to focus more on China because we see that, during the classical colonial era, China was essentially a raw material market; however, it has since become a leading colonial power during the algorithmic colonial era. Unlike countries like Spain, Portugal, England, and France, China did not establish overseas colonies; on the contrary, it became a raw material market in the 19th century. During certain dynastic periods, China exerted influence over peripheral regions through a tribute system centered on its own capital, but these activities were not dissimilar to the colonial activities of European countries.
Essentially, towards the end of the 20th century, and particularly by the beginning of the 21st century, China competed with the United States economically and technologically, surpassing Russia and other European countries. Meanwhile, it entered the global south through both government and corporate influence, creating and supporting economic, military, and technological infrastructure, making these regions dependent on itself. This dependency is essentially a form of colonialism.
China, considered the world’s factory, began its globalization in the 1990s by joining the World Trade Organization. By the 2000s, it viewed technology as part of its national security and global power struggle and shifted its focus to becoming a high-tech manufacturer. With its “Made in China 2025,” “New Silk Road,” and “Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan” strategies, it quickly became competitive with the US. A major race began in both economic and technological fields, and this race supported the colonial order because it created a need for more resources, that is, more data and more users. This led to the emergence of addictive investments in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
The Chinese government has provided billions of dollars in incentives for areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, and 5G. China has become the fastest country to deploy 5G networks and has made significant investments in this area, particularly in Africa. Similarly, it has made these countries more regulated through strategies that prioritize technology in smart cities, trade routes, and healthcare. These investments weren’t about providing support to countries, but rather about gaining a say in political, economic, and social matters. With giant corporations like Alibaba, Tencent, TikTok, Huawei, and ZTE, the mechanism for monitoring and intervention has been strengthened.
With all its economic and technological strategies, China has become a dominant power that exploits and makes other states dependent on itself. All of its strategies and activities deepen algorithmic colonialism. The telecommunications infrastructure it provides as part of the “Digital Silk Road” (Huawei’s 5G networks, facial recognition systems, and data centers) increases these countries’ digital dependence, while the resulting infrastructure transfers data flows to Chinese-based companies, leading to data exploitation and algorithmic domination.