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Opinion | China offers an alternative to Western ‘technofeudalism’
China’s answer to the Western model focuses on planning, an open source approach and whether the new technology earns its place in society
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At the turn of the century, global innovation followed a Western script. Silicon Valley dominated the world in innovation. Europe exported standards and governance. Asia, in contrast, was cast as the manufacturer, assembler and consumer.
But the global innovation order is shifting. According to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, change is under way not only in technical capability but also in public sentiment. In China, 72 per cent of people trust artificial intelligence (AI), compared to 32 per cent in the United States and 28 per cent in the United Kingdom. Similar patterns hold across India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand as developing Asian markets consistently outperform Western and developed peers on public trust in innovation.
This matters as without trust, even the most advanced technologies stall. Where trust is high, adoption accelerates, institutional alignment strengthens and public-private collaboration deepens. This serves as a powerful catalyst, especially for a country like China, whose innovation strategy is tightly interwoven with national development goals and the self-sufficiency mission. These dynamics play out against a broader philosophical divergence in how innovation is governed.
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Broadly speaking, two models dominate the innovation landscape. The first is the “permissionless” model, which gave Silicon Valley its mojo. It champions speed, risk-taking and deregulation, based on the belief that innovation should be free to develop without prior approval.
Although this laissez-faire approach has produced some of the most valuable technology companies globally, recent years have also seen such companies face accusations of acting against the public’s best interests, sparking debates on their influence and societal role.
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The second is the “permissioned” model, generally favoured across Asia, which takes a more regulated approach. Here, innovation is developed in line with national priorities, public oversight and deliberate planning. Once criticised as slow and bureaucratic, this model is proving increasingly fit for purpose as public concerns over job displacement, tech misuse and misinformation have brought trust in AI to a crossroads.
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