China's Approach to Governing Emerging Technologies from the Perspective of National Security

国家安全视域下新兴技术治理的中国路径

Abstract

The development of emerging technologies has expanded the spatial and temporal scope of national security, bringing unpredictable impacts to the economy and society. Globally, the governance of emerging technologies and national security practices face many challenges. For example, governance methods struggle to keep pace with the development of emerging technologies; governance measures face the "Collingridge dilemma"; and the governance system exhibits fragmentation. These challenges form the logical starting point for research on the governance of emerging technologies from a national security perspective. In the post-pandemic era, the competition for governance capabilities in emerging technologies under an overemphasis on security will remain the "new normal" in great power relations. Currently, China faces a formidable task in maintaining national security and social stability. Faced with unprecedented changes in modern history, only by adapting to the trends of technological and governance innovation, grasping the key points in the governance of emerging technologies, and conducting a systematic strategic assessment of the critical weaknesses and risks in China's path to modernization, can we deeply advance the modernization of our national security system and capabilities. This article suggests that my country should promote a paradigm shift in the governance of emerging technologies, taking informatization as the strategic main line of development, establishing institutional mechanisms adapted to the laws of technological innovation in uncharted territories, exploring and constructing a governance model that promotes governance through application, preparing contingency plans for great power competition, providing governance solutions based on scenario analysis, creating a more open technological ecosystem, and building an adaptive mechanism that combines peacetime and wartime needs. In this way, a Chinese-style path for the governance of emerging technologies can be gradually explored, providing solutions for comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernization.