Data and A New Global Order

INTERNATIONAL/ ECONOMY/ GOVERNANCE

Topic:

• GS-2: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests.
• GS-3: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life 

Data and A New Global Order

Digital Data Revolution – Strategic Implications

• Military and civilian systems are symbiotic due nature and pervasiveness of digital data
• Cybersecurity is national security, and this requires both a new military doctrine and a diplomatic framework.
• Massive amounts of data generated by people & economic activities give a sustained productivity advantage to Asia.
• Data streams are now at the centre of global trade and countries’ economic and national power. 
• India, thus, has the capacity to negotiate new rules as an equal with the U.S. and China.

China and Digital Sector

• Innovation based on data streams has contributed to China’s rise as the second-largest economy and the “near-peer” of the U.S.
• China’s digital technology-led capitalism is moving fast to utilise the economic potential of data, pushing the recently launched e-yuan and shaking the dollar-based settlement for global trade.
• China has a $53-trillion mobile payments market and it is the global leader in the online transactions arena, controlling over 50% of the global market value.
• China formed a joint venture with SWIFT for cross-border payments and suggested foundational principles for interoperability between central bank digital currencies at the Bank for International Settlements.

Dynamics

• With Asia at the centre of the world, major powers see value in relationships with India. 
• India fits into the U.S. frame to provide leverage. China wants India, also a digital power, to see it as a partner, not a rival. 
• And China remains the largest trading partner of both the U.S. and India despite sanctions and border skirmishes.
• India alone straddles both U.S. and China-led strategic groupings, providing an equity-based perspective to competing visions. 
• India must be prepared to play a key role in moulding rules for the hyper-connected world, facing off both the U.S. and China to realise its potential of becoming the second-largest economy.