Exporting the Tools of Dictatorship

The Politics of China’s Technology Transfers

Bibliographic Data

ID6324968
AuthorsErin Baggott Carter (0000-0002-9196-8572), Brett L Carter (0000-0002-4443-8798)
Year2025
Volume23
Issue3
Pages1089-1108
Publication date2025-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePerspectives on Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1537-5927 • E-ISSN: 1541-0986
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1537592724002226
OpenAlexW4406629817
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited39

The Chinese government is revolutionizing digital surveillance at home and exporting these technologies abroad. Do these technology transfers help recipient governments expand digital surveillance, impose internet shutdowns, filter the internet, and target repression for online content? We focus on Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications provider, which is partly state-owned and increasingly regarded as an instrument of its foreign policy. Using a global sample and an identification strategy based on generalized synthetic controls, we show that the effect of Huawei transfers depends on preexisting political institutions in recipient countries. In the world’s autocracies, Huawei technology facilitates digital repression. We find no effect in the world’s democracies, which are more likely to have laws that regulate digital privacy, institutions that punish government violations, and vibrant civil societies that step in when institutions come under strain. Most broadly, this article advances a large literature about the geopolitical implications of China’s rise

China · Democracy · Dictatorship · Economic system · Economics · Political science · Politics · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · Law

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