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Paper short abstract:

Our paper examines the relationship between the Chinese government's tax diplomacy and its burgeoning digital sector. It demonstrates that a focus on the EU-US conflict over digital taxation obscures the politics between China and its Asia-Pacific neighbours, as well as countries further afield.

Paper long abstract:

Most of the focus in the recent politicised debates about multinational corporate taxation has been on the low tax rates paid by US tech firms such as Google and Amazon. Yet this discussion misses the bipolar structure of the digital economy, demonstrated by the presence of Chinese firms Alibaba and Tencent among the five largest digital firms. Our paper examines the relationship between the Chinese government's tax diplomacy and its burgeoning digital sector, sketching out an agenda for further research and analysis. To do so it first discusses how the Chinese government has supported Chinese companies 'going global' through its tax diplomacy, notably the Belt and Road initiative. Next, it analyses the present and future state of China's digital technology sector in the global economy. Finally, it brings these two strands together with a focus on China's position in ongoing negotiations concerning the taxation of digital giants. It demonstrates that a focus on the EU-US conflict over digital taxation obscures the politics between China and its Asia-Pacific neighbours, as well as countries further afield.