Research On The Construction Of Global Digital Trade Rules And The Chinese Initiative

The construction of global digital trade rules is an urgent necessity for the development of global digital trade and is also a key component of global digital governance.With the initiation of WTO e-commerce negotiations,the development of digital trade rules has entered a new era transitioning from regionalized and small-scale construction to multilateral and global construction.Countries have formed complex and apparent position differences around various demands such as the freedom and openness of digital markets,secure regulation of data sovereignty,and bridging the "digital divide" in developing countries.It is extremely challenging to establish a unified and binding common rule at the global level.Developed countries such as the United States and Europe have taken the lead in formulating their respective rule construction plans,implementing them at regional and bilateral levels,and vigorously promoting them globally.However,due to strong unilateral interests and excessively high standards,these plans cannot be accepted by the vast majority of countries worldwide.Regional trade agreements such as CPTPP,RCEP,and DEPA include digital trade rules that are more rational but still have certain limitations.The construction of global digital trade rules requires new approaches to balance digital trade connectivity with domestic regulatory rights and to promote the coordinated development of developed and developing countries.Digitally capable and responsible major countries internationally should also actively provide such solutions,contributing to the establishment of a more inclusive and balanced global digital trade rule framework.The Chinese Initiative has been proposed to fulfill China’s responsibility as a major digital power,aiming to promote the establishment of a fair,just,inclusive,and beneficial global digital trade order,which is essential for achieving secure and orderly development in digital trade.China has repeatedly proposed contributing its own solutions to global digital trade rules,and in recent years,it has formally submitted a series of position papers to the international community on issues such as facilitating global cross-border e-commerce,global digital governance,principles of cyber sovereignty,and AI regulations.The basic framework and core positions of the Chinese Initiative have already begun to take shape.Given that the construction of digital trade rules requires more specific agenda setting and rule propositions,China can build upon its existing positions to address various issues arising from digital trade development,respond to global demands for common rules,and further refine and enhance the Chinese Initiative.This would allow China to more effectively contribute to the construction of global rules.This paper employs theoretical analysis primarily,complemented by the combination of theoretical and empirical analysis research methods,aiming to explore new problems and rule requirements urgently needed in the development of digital trade,investigate the basic requirements for the construction of global digital trade rules,analyze the characteristics and limitations of existing international rule construction plans,discuss the necessity,capability foundation,and core content of the Chinese Initiative,and explore the areas where the Chinese Initiative needs further enrichment and enhancement.Drawing on international trade,institutional economics,regional economic integration,and international political economy theories,this paper establishes a systematic theoretical interpretative framework around the construction of digital trade rules,arguing that digital trade rules must respond to three needs: promoting liberalization,achieving regulatory coordination,and reconciling interest distribution.The paper argues that new technologies,goods,and factors provide new impetus for economic development while also bringing new challenges,such as the significant barriers to entry posed by digital product comparative advantages and data factor endowments,leading to intense imperfect competition.At the same time,the emphasis on trade protection policy security objectives and the strengthening of domestic regulatory measures act as new trade barriers,resulting in significant negative externalities and institutional transaction costs.Digital trade rules must ensure the smooth conduct of digital economic activities while also achieving regulatory coordination on the premise of respecting domestic regulatory rights and effectively mitigating severe trade interest differentiation issues,achieving the coordinated development of developed and developing countries.In this context,various countries have diverse motives and general initiatives regarding the construction of digital trade rules,resulting in fragmented global rules.Therefore,the construction of global digital trade rules needs to be based on the coordination of multiple interests and the integration of diverse value concepts to more equitably meet the three rule requirements.Based on the establishment of rule requirements,this paper proposes the basic requirements for the construction of global digital trade rules according to the international institutional design framework and analyzes existing rules.As an important international economic and trade institution in the digital age,the construction of digital trade rules is a process of addressing problems encountered in digital cooperation,considering various value norms in the digital age and adjusting the design process of institutional components.Facing the urgent needs of liberalization,regulatory coordination,and interest distribution,certain design aspects are crucial in the construction of global digital trade rules,including: effective implementation of digital trade facilitation,liberalization,and risk governance cooperation,and enrichment of rule topics accordingly;consideration of the development stage and digital capacity building needs of developing countries,setting corresponding topics,and retaining sufficient flexibility;addressing concerns about data sovereignty security,while retaining reasonable regulatory autonomy.Only rules that meet these design requirements can more equitably meet various rule requirements,thereby helping to improve the fairness,inclusiveness,and universality of global digital trade development.Using the requirements for the construction of global rules as a benchmark,this paper analyzes the dominant rules led by the United States and Europe and other representative regional digital trade rules.The research finds that existing rules focus on different digital cooperation issues in design,and there are differences in the impact of different international norms,leading to differences in the degree of element adjustment.Specifically,the rules led by the United States focus on the expansion and deepening of digital trade liberalization and digital technology protection issues,striving to suppress flexibility,neglecting the problem of imbalanced interests and regulatory risks;the rules led by the European Union emphasize the protection of their own data resources and digital market,expanding topics oriented towards unilateral interests,highly safeguarding the right to regulate privacy data,and the right to exempt from market access for digital audiovisual products,posing certain restrictions on the normal conduct of digital trade;CPTPP retains more regulatory autonomy while pursuing high standards,but still lacks sufficient response to the demands of developing members;RCEP and DEPA highly respect the regulatory rights of all countries and fully consider the needs of developing members,but they also face the risks of policy arbitrariness and execution efficiency.These deficiencies in design result in a certain imbalance in the treatment of the three needs by existing rules,and their limitations in the application to global rule construction are evident,requiring new solutions to supplement them.From the perspective of the inclusiveness and universality of global digital trade development,this paper believes that given the significant differences in comparative advantages in the digital fields among countries and the significant barriers posed by data factor endowments,a rule that appropriately restrains excessively high standards of liberalization,focuses more on addressing imbalanced interest distribution issues,and responds more to the demands of developing countries will help alleviate the rapid widening of the gap between countries and provide institutional guarantees for inclusive and universal development.Conversely,rules that excessively emphasize liberalization while neglecting other issues will struggle to effectively address extreme imbalances in trade interests and will not help alleviate concerns about the "digital divide" and "bipolarization" among developing countries.To validate the above conclusions,this study employs empirical analysis methods to examine whether current digital trade rules,which emphasize different needs,have practical impacts on the inclusiveness and universality of digital trade development.Firstly,the study categorizes digital trade rules based on three distinct needs,establishing measurement indicators covering breadth and depth to assess the level of rule construction in addressing different problems.It utilizes the International Inequality Exchange Index to measure the degree of trade interest imbalance between countries.Secondly,panel data consisting of 128 pairs of countries,composed of 30 countries,spanning from 2000 to 2022,is used for fixedeffects regression analysis to examine the influence of the breadth and depth of digital trade rules on unequal exchange.Finally,data from major economies are selected to examine the actual effects of digital trade rules implementing different plans and displaying different characteristics.The research results confirm that the rules participated in by the United States and Japan,due to their excessive pursuit of liberalization while neglecting imbalanced interest distribution issues,indeed fail to reduce unequal exchange and narrow the gap between countries.Conversely,the rules participated in by the European Union and Singapore,due to their greater emphasis on alleviating excessive interest differentiation and giving more consideration to developing countries,significantly reduce unequal exchange and enhance the inclusiveness of international development.Furthermore,the study points out that China has the vision to achieve inclusive and universal development of the global digital economy and has equal and mutually beneficial digital cooperation practices.The rule construction demonstrates the characteristic of "steady progress." Therefore,the digital trade rules in which China participates achieve the best effect of reducing unequal exchange.However,the main way for China to practice the vision of inclusive development is still to limit the number of high-standard rule topics and control the speed of rule expansion and deepening.China should take more proactive responsibility as a major digital power,comply with the laws of digital trade development,actively participate in various topic construction,propose more comprehensive and systematic rule propositions to address issues of inclusiveness and balance,and translate the Chinese Initiative into the global rule design process.Based on the emerging reality where the Chinese Initiative is beginning to manifest on the global stage,this paper explores the core content of the Chinese Initiative and areas that require further refinement and enhancement,discussing how China can participate in the construction of global digital trade rules.By reviewing the core thematic areas and fundamental positions covered in China’s policy documents,this paper argues that the Chinese Initiative aims to establish a globally inclusive and balanced digital trade framework.To achieve this goal,China needs to draw on the rational elements of existing initiatives,address unmet rule requirements,and on one hand,uphold legitimate domestic regulatory rights,fully respond to the digital capacity-building needs of developing countries,and strive for equitable treatment.On the other hand,China must avoid excessive expansion of policy autonomy,reduce policy uncertainties,and prevent the indulgence of trade protectionism.Along this trajectory,China should use its existing stance as a benchmark,fully adhere to globally recognized principles and norms,undertake more detailed thematic setting,articulate specific and clear rule propositions,and continue to enrich and refine the Chinese Initiative.Furthermore,China needs to integrate its initiative into the global rule-design process,addressing digital cooperation issues inadequately addressed by existing rules,insufficient consideration of value standards,and incomplete element adjustments,aiming to maximize the integration of the three demands of openness,regulatory coordination,and benefit distribution,and promote the establishment of a fair,just,inclusive,and beneficial new global digital economic order.