A Digital Empire in the Making: China's Outbound Digital Platforms
In this article, we use the example of e-commerce giant Alibaba and its outbound activities in the Asia-Pacific to illustrate how China’s digital platforms have become part of a “digital empire in the making.” The article examines how this emergent digital empire is a manifestation of “going out,...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
USC ANNENBERG PRESS
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/10995?fbclid=IwAR0FZPRRc_vsXI_2OlKZpx79M20SH-VTYqd7sH1KY95Bm6IIJzRf1Ok-I9M http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80351 |
| _version_ | 1848764205270827008 |
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| author | Keane, Michael Yu, Haiqing |
| author_facet | Keane, Michael Yu, Haiqing |
| author_sort | Keane, Michael |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In this article, we use the example of e-commerce giant Alibaba and its outbound activities
in the Asia-Pacific to illustrate how China’s digital platforms have become part of a “digital
empire in the making.” The article examines how this emergent digital empire is a
manifestation of “going out,” a term used by the Chinese government to rally the private
sector (particularly platform capitalists) to internationalize, and how digital champions
such as Alibaba have responded to and embraced an outward-bound strategy. Though the
Asia-Pacific represents an important region for Chinese economic security, especially when
one considers the established business interests there, extension of Chinese influence to
central Asia conjures up a different kind of weida fuxing (great rejuvenation), one that
evokes a great historical past—namely, the Chinese empire. Accordingly, we speculate on
how digital technologies, platforms, and business mergers will facilitate Chinese influence
along the digital Silk Roads. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:15:39Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-80351 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:15:39Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | USC ANNENBERG PRESS |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-803512021-01-13T03:09:37Z A Digital Empire in the Making: China's Outbound Digital Platforms Keane, Michael Yu, Haiqing Social Sciences Communication platform capitalism going out Alibaba Asia-Pacific empire digital Silk SILK ROAD INTERNET POLITICS BELT In this article, we use the example of e-commerce giant Alibaba and its outbound activities in the Asia-Pacific to illustrate how China’s digital platforms have become part of a “digital empire in the making.” The article examines how this emergent digital empire is a manifestation of “going out,” a term used by the Chinese government to rally the private sector (particularly platform capitalists) to internationalize, and how digital champions such as Alibaba have responded to and embraced an outward-bound strategy. Though the Asia-Pacific represents an important region for Chinese economic security, especially when one considers the established business interests there, extension of Chinese influence to central Asia conjures up a different kind of weida fuxing (great rejuvenation), one that evokes a great historical past—namely, the Chinese empire. Accordingly, we speculate on how digital technologies, platforms, and business mergers will facilitate Chinese influence along the digital Silk Roads. 2019 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80351 English https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/10995?fbclid=IwAR0FZPRRc_vsXI_2OlKZpx79M20SH-VTYqd7sH1KY95Bm6IIJzRf1Ok-I9M http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP170102176 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ USC ANNENBERG PRESS fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Social Sciences Communication platform capitalism going out Alibaba Asia-Pacific empire digital Silk SILK ROAD INTERNET POLITICS BELT Keane, Michael Yu, Haiqing A Digital Empire in the Making: China's Outbound Digital Platforms |
| title | A Digital Empire in the Making: China's Outbound Digital Platforms |
| title_full | A Digital Empire in the Making: China's Outbound Digital Platforms |
| title_fullStr | A Digital Empire in the Making: China's Outbound Digital Platforms |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Digital Empire in the Making: China's Outbound Digital Platforms |
| title_short | A Digital Empire in the Making: China's Outbound Digital Platforms |
| title_sort | digital empire in the making: china's outbound digital platforms |
| topic | Social Sciences Communication platform capitalism going out Alibaba Asia-Pacific empire digital Silk SILK ROAD INTERNET POLITICS BELT |
| url | https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/10995?fbclid=IwAR0FZPRRc_vsXI_2OlKZpx79M20SH-VTYqd7sH1KY95Bm6IIJzRf1Ok-I9M https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/10995?fbclid=IwAR0FZPRRc_vsXI_2OlKZpx79M20SH-VTYqd7sH1KY95Bm6IIJzRf1Ok-I9M http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80351 |