Valentin Weber

🚨 Launching Sept 3 China:Technosphere, my new biweekly brief — built for those interested in understanding how China controls at home and influences abroad. At the intersection of national security and technology.🔔Subscribe now to get the first issue: chinatechnosphere.substack.com/welcome

A few weeks ago @rightscon.org in Lusaka was cancelled due to Chinese pressure. Here is my take on how China built up its technological influence in #Zambia and where it stands currently. chinatechnosphere.substack.com/p/how-china-... @accessnow.org , @dgap.org

Chinese companies provide #emotion-recognition systems that remotely analyze facial and neck muscle vibrations in crowds to identify abnormal psychological states. Read more in this week's #China:Technosphere chinatechnosphere.substack.com/p/how-china-...

„In modernen Autos fallen atemberaubend viel sensible Daten an." Bewegungsdaten werden zu „hoch aussagekräftigen Profilen" verknüpft. Auf Risiken machten @gruene-bundestag.de seit mehreren Jahren aufmerksam, die #Bundesregierung habe sie viel zu lang ignoriert, so @konstantinnotz.bsky.social 👇

For years, #China has quietly expanded its technological footprint in the #MiddleEast, and now, these systems may offer Beijing insights into the current actions of the #UnitedStates on the ground. open.substack.com/pub/chinatec...

In our new op-ed Myf Ma and I propose that the #Taiwanese government should initiate a discussion about constructing the world’s first national #mesh network with the purpose of increasing digital resilience. www.taipeitimes.com/News/editori...

✍️ Chapter 4 The Shenzhen Effect: China’s Export of Authoritarianism and What to Do About It by @weberv.bsky.social How is China exporting its digital technology, and what kind of impacts does this transfer of expertise and infrastructure have on human rights?

Excited to share this report on "China's Embodied AI" that William Hannas, Huey-Meei Chang, Daniel Chou and I co-authored for @csetgeorgetown.bsky.social cset.georgetown.edu/publication/...

China's AI cooperation infrastructure chinatechnosphere.substack.com/p/china-is-r...

China Is Racing to Draw the World Into Its #AI Sphere #Guangxi, for its part, is becoming China's AI hub for ASEAN. This is China's first step in a wider global AI push. TikTok meanwhile appears tied to Qi An Xin, a firm with #PLA links. chinatechnosphere.substack.com/p/how-china-...

Part II of my analysis on China’s Lianyungang Forum is out. It breaks down how the Forum’s Global Public Security Index pushes China’s security agenda, using biased rankings based on a survey by Dataway, a firm tied to UFWD work on Xinjiang/Tibet. chinatechnosphere.substack.com/p/lianyungan...

Just as China’s approach to cyber operations has developed, so has its counter-attribution strategy. Western attribution strategies haven’t kept pace, argues @weberv.bsky.social in his latest for Binding Hook: bindinghook.com/chinas-attri...

„Sicherheit ist kein Zustand, sondern ein Prozess“, so Bundesminister der Verteidigung Boris Pistorius in seiner Videobotschaft anlässlich unserer Zentrumseröffnung. Sein Wunsch an das Zentrum ist es, „einen Raum für kritische & faktenfokussierte Debatten“ anzubieten.

The Lianyungang Forum is #China's blueprint for an alternative global #security architecture. The Forum has been taking place since 2015 and gathers hundreds of #police and government officials from across the world in China. Here is my analysis of it 👇 chinatechnosphere.substack.com/p/lianyungan...

In our new @dgap.org memo, Maria Pericàs Riera and I lay out what #Europe should do to mitigate the risks emanating from connected vehicles. dgap.org/en/research/...

Soon you’ll watch horror movies and go to Halloween parties. But real horror is out there. Chinese “smart prisons” show tech control at its peak—and the same monitoring systems are spreading to elderly care and military sites worldwide. #Surveillance chinatechnosphere.substack.com/p/you-might-...

Few at IBM may have anticipated that introducing the concept of smart cities to China would eventually lead to the emergence of smart military camps (智慧军营). Yet, that is precisely what happened. open.substack.com/pub/chinatec...

„Die jüngsten Cyberangriffe auf 🇪🇺 Flughäfen sind eine erneute Mahnung: 🇩🇪 muss unabhängiger von 🇺🇸 & 🇨🇳 Technologie werden“, schreibt @weberv.bsky.social im Handelsblatt- Gastbeitrag. Er skizizziert darin vier Ansätze für mehr technologische Souveränität. 📰👇

The Chinese Communist Party is dreaming an authoritarian techno-dream that is a democrat’s nightmare: ever more fine-grained state control made possible by using AI networks to pry and spy everywhere. But human unpredictability remains a force the party-state cannot tame. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/a...

My essay "China's AI-Powered Surveillance State" is out today in @jodemocracy.bsky.social. #AI may boost CCP control, but human unpredictability remains its Achilles' heel. Read it here (free until Oct 30): muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

open.substack.com/pub/chinatec...

Issue #2 of China: Technosphere is out 🎯 Read the full post to find out what the #BRI Cybersecurity Strategy is about what China's motives are as well as how Anxinsec and Huawei cooperate to build a Silk Road Technology Ecosystem. 👇 substack.com/home/post/p-...

New: @aylinmatle.bsky.social & @weberv.bsky.social argue that it would be in Germany’s interests to supply arms to Taiwan, as it struggles with the effects of late and insufficient US deliveries. ip-quarterly.com/en/case-berl...

Our new article w @aylinmatle.bsky.social "The Case for Berlin Supplying Arms to Taipei" was published in the @ipq.bsky.social. Taiwan is struggling with the effects of insufficient and late US #weapons deliveries. It would be in the interest of Germany to step in. ip-quarterly.com/en/case-berl...

📢 China: Technosphere Just Launched 📢 The first issue of my new biweekly Substack brief explores #China's border surveillance infrastructure that can detect #submarines as well as fleeing #dissidents. chinatechnosphere.substack.com/p/welcome-to...

In ihrem Memo setzen sich unser Senior Research Fellow @weberv.bsky.social & Ferdinand Gehringer von der KAS mit der aktiven Cyberabwehr in 🇩🇪 auseinander. Sie empfehlen der Bundesregierung, eine Reaktionstoolbox zu entwickeln, die geeignete Maßnahmen bündelt und deren Chancen & Risiken aufzeigt.

My latest @dgap.org memo was published today. Incation in #UN cyber discussions is primarily to blame on Russian behavior that obstructs progress, but it is also partly due to a #Western tendency to make broad statements in #plenary sessions. dgap.org/en/node/42456

The chair of the #UN #OEWG on cybersec circulated the final report for delegations to decide on today. Chances for consensus are better, but he might have made too little to accommodate concerns regarding the thin provisions on international law. This could derail the process in its final hours.

Yesterday night the chair of the #OEWG on international #cybersecurity circulated a revised draft of the final #report. The report has shrunk from 59 to 30 pages, increasing the chances of adoption. There are improvements but, the language potentially leading to a #treaty needs to be weakened.

It is the final week of UN #OEWG discussions on int #cybersecurity. Points of disagreement remain on new norms vs implementing existing ones and the shape of the future mechanism, which put a final consensus report in peril. It will require a great portion of diplomatic acumen to overcome them.

„Der weitreichende Einfluss der Kommunistischen Partei Chinas auf 🇨🇳 Unternehmen ist in 🇩🇪 weitgehend unbekannt“, so Associate Fellow @kavocabo.bsky.social. Im Memo erläutert er, wie Parteizellen und Golden Shares die Wirtschaft kontrollieren & was 🇪🇺 tun sollte.

“Social governance is a euphemism for social control. Achieving social control is a central theme of #China 's AGI pursuit. The closer 🇨🇳 gets to reaching AGI, the higher are its chances of preserving regime security”, our #cyber expert @weberv.bsky.social told @newsweek.com.

You can now re-watch the full discussion that was opened by welcoming remarks of our Otto-Wolff director Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff on our YouTube channel! 📺👇/2

Yesterday afternoon, we hosted an event on the cybersecurity challenges of connected vehicles. Together with diplomats, policymakers & experts from 🇩🇪, 🇫🇷 & 🇬🇧, our expert @weberv.bsky.social discussed 🇪🇺perspectives on ICT Risks in the automotive sector. /1

Next Tuesday we will discuss the #cybersecurity of #connected vehicles with reps from #Germany, #UK and #France. Join us at @dgap.org or online for a timely discussion. More info at: dgap.org/en/events/se... Register at: events@dgap.org

Join us on 20 May in Berlin for an event on the cybersecurity challenges of connected vehicles. Together with diplomats, policymakers & experts from 🇩🇪, 🇬🇧 & 🇫🇷, @weberv.bsky.social will discuss how cooperation can contribute to shaping a broader 🇪🇺 strategy. All details & registration: buff.ly/bXo4Ucz

China’s DeepSeek AI is revolutionising repression, argues @weberv.bsky.social: making it smarter, cheaper, and more scalable. The CCP’s latest #genAI tool automates #surveillance and decision-making, posing a global threat to democracy:

🇩🇪 ist bei der Absicherung seiner Systeme für das Quantenzeitalter ein internationaler Vorreiter - zumindest auf dem Papier. Der @tspbackground.bsky.social Cybersicherheit fasst exklusiv die Ergebnisse einer neuen Analyse unserer Expert*innen @weberv.bsky.social & Maria Pericàs zusammen. /1

I'm very much looking forward to joining next week's @hooverinstitution.bsky.social event on "Digital Authoritarianism and Strategies to Promote a Democratic Digital Future" with Beth Kerley, Charles Mok, Christopher Walker and Larry Diamond. Online registration: stanford.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Missed our DGAP Morning Briefing on Germany’s new coalition? Watch the full recording now: expert insights on foreign policy, migration, defense, climate & tech from Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, Victoria Rietig, @aylinmatle.bsky.social, Tim Bosch & Valentin Weber. youtu.be/VlWh_VyKlAg?...