Global Digital Economy Governance: Existing Issues, Evolution Trends, and China's Positioning

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the accelerated evolution of the global digital economy and the increasingly complex landscape of competition and cooperation among nations, the existing international governance framework faces systemic challenges in areas such as rule coordination, institutional coherence, and global collaborative governance. This paper first outlines the prominent issues in current global digital economy governance, including the lack of institutionalization in the governance agenda, fragmentation and insufficient inclusivity in rule systems, limited participation capacity of developing countries, and coordination dilemmas arising from the overlay of regional rules. Building on this analysis, the paper further summarizes the evolutionary trends in global digital economy governance, which are characterized by: the gradual prominence of negative externalities issues, the strengthening of multi-stakeholder collaborative governance, the intensifying contestation over governance rules, and the diversification and innovation in governance approaches. Finally, integrating the practices of China's digital economy development, this paper explores China's role and positioning in global digital economy governance from the dual dimensions of opportunities and challenges, aiming to provide references for the analysis of related issues and policy formulation.