China’s Cloud Governance: The Big Data Bureau and COVID-19 Crisis Management

ABSTRACT

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime has enhanced the sharing of information between government departments through “cloud governance” using big data. Local governments have set up big data bureaus, which have created government data-sharing platforms to solve the problem of “data islands” with limited external connectivity. We use the case of COVID-19 containment and crisis management to examine how local governments in China use cloud governance to deal with special tasks, such as the maintenance of social stability, disease prevention and control, and economic recovery. We argue that the CCP’s emphasis on cloud governance is part of its effort to learn new technologies in order to consolidate its rule. © 2022, Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. All rights reserved.