U.S.-Asia Law Institute Talk

High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy

Date: Monday, April 15, 2024

Time: 3:00-4:30 pm ET

Furman Hall Room 214 and on Zoom

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This event is co-sponsored by Guarini Global Law & Tech

About the event:

China’s success in cultivating Big Tech firms has enabled it to emerge as a formidable rival to the United States in the digital sphere. But in the past few years, the Chinese government has embarked on a massive regulatory crackdown, targeting its largest tech corporations such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Meituan. Many Western experts have viewed this tech crackdown as an assault on private businesses, causing doubt among investors about whether Chinese firms are still investable. Professor Angela Zhang will go beyond the headlines to unravel the dynamic complexity of China’s regulatory governance. Drawing insights from her newly published book, High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy, she will introduce the dynamic pyramid model of regulation, an analytical framework that demystifies Chinese regulatory governance. She will examine the impact of the tech crackdown on the administrative state, the competitive landscape, and global tech rivalry. And she will peer into the future by examining China’s strategy for regulating generative artificial intelligence. 

About the speaker:

Angela Zhang is an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong and director of the Philip K. H. Wong Center for Chinese Law. Widely recognized as a leading authority on China’s tech regulation, she is the author of High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy, published by Oxford University Press in March 2024, and Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Challenges Global Regulation (Oxford, 2021), which was named one of the best political economy books of 2021 by ProMarket.  In fall 2024, Angela will join the University of Southern California as a professor of law. Follow her on X (Twitter) @AngelaZhangHK.

Watch a 4-minute video trailer  

About the moderator:

Thomas Streinz is executive director of Guarini Global Law & Tech and a fellow at the Institute for International Law and Justice. He also is an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law, where he convenes the Guarini Colloquium: Regulating Global Digital Corporations and teaches courses on global data law and global tech law. His research interests include global data/tech law, international economic data law, and global digital infrastructure governance. He co-edited Artificial Intelligence and International Economic Law: Disruption, Regulation, and Reconfiguration (CUP 2021). Other recent publications include Confronting Data Inequality, The Beijing Effect: China’s ‘Digital Silk Road’ as Transnational Data Governance, and the Evolution of European Data Law