Regulate to Dominate: The Geopolitics of Standard-Setting in Digital Technologies and its Strategic Implications for the EU

This policy brief elaborates on the increasing importance of standard-setting as a means of advancing geopolitical competition, particularly in the global governance of emerging technologies, which are set to radically transform geopolitics and international relations at large. Building upon an extensive range of primary and secondary sources, it considers the rise of China in standard-setting and the implications of its new assertiveness for the strategic autonomy of the European Union. The policy brief argues that, as a global actor who has championed the shaping of international politics through norms and standards, the EU should welcome China’s willingness to play by the rules of global standard-setting institutions. However, the EU should also defend its legacy as rule-maker, particularly in a geopolitical predicament of growing technological confrontation between the US and China.