China and the West are both moving ahead in developing this cluster of digital innovations. Will their respective systems be interoperable? With what implications for international security? Will digital payments technology require or accelerate the bifurcation of the world economy into two competing blocs? How will this affect great power politics and the dynamics of international relations? How in turn will greater nationalism due to the Covid-19 crisis (if, as seems likely, this turns out to be the result), increased tension between the U.S. and China, and the rise of the “splinternet” in turn affect the development of the technology?
