Smart cities: Chinese ambitions in the time of COVID-19

For Xi Jinping, who presents himself as a great Marxist thinker and promotes the development of a system for rating individuals, it is time to renovate socialism, by fully integrating the most modern tools into its concrete application. The development of technologies is therefore today an ideological, political and economic priority. It is seen as essential to social control, to maintaining the power of the Communist Party, to moving the Chinese market upmarket, and to consolidating the country’s power status.

In this context, a growing number of Chinese companies are becoming competitive in the manufacturing of new technologies, but also in their implementation and daily use, under the supervision of the central government. In particular, China has been developing the so-called “smart” city since 2012 (smart city) a national priority, and to date displays very great ambition in this area. Over the past eight years, the central government has increased the number of tests and pilot projects across the country (for example in Wuhan, Tianjin, Shenzhen and Xi’an), where technological tools (cameras, facial recognition, smartphone applications…) are used to manage pollution, traffic and mobility, or even security – a priority sector in the definition of smart city Chinese.

Chinese ambitions in terms of smart cities are emerging stronger from the coronavirus crisis: not only did the government promote technologies and their use in urban areas during the crisis, but it also announced an economic recovery plan aimed at accelerating the development of technologies on Chinese territory. More than ever, while technological tensions with the United States persist and extend well beyond 5G, China is seeking to position itself as a world leader in cities of the future. This offer is far from unanimous, but it has the potential to gradually establish itself as a reference at least in part of the world.

COVID-19 and promotion of Chinese technologies

The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the development of smart cities Chinese in three ways. First, since December 2019, Chinese authorities, in cooperation with companies, have accelerated the testing and use of different pre-existing devices in a growing number of Chinese cities. […]

PLAN

• COVID-19 and promotion of Chinese technologies
• THE smart cities Chinese cities: alternative model of cities of the future?
• Sino-American tensions: towards urban decoupling?

Alice Ekman is analyst responsible for Asia at the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), and winner of the 2020 Geopolitical Book Prize for Rouge Vif. The Chinese Communist Ideal, Paris, Éditions de l’Observatoire, 2020.