Valentin Weber

The American Origins of China's Smart Military Camps China: Technosphere provides a biweekly deep-dive into China’s technological control at home and influence abroad.

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-...

The Case for Berlin Supplying Arms to Taipei Taiwan is struggling with the effects of late and insufficient US weapons deliveries, which are making it more vulnerable. It would be in Germany’s interest to step in.

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...

Welcome to China: Technosphere This week: How China monitors its borders

📢 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...

Aktive Cyberabwehr: Von der Wirkung zur Toolbox Die neue Bundesregierung will in dieser Legislaturperiode den Grundstein für eine erweiterte aktive Cyberabwehr legen. Entscheidend bei diesem Prozess ist, zunächst die angestrebte Wirkung klar zu ben...

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.

China: Technosphere | Valentin Weber | Substack China: Technosphere provides a biweekly (or so) deep-dive into China's control at home and influence abroad. Click to read China: Technosphere, by Valentin Weber, a Substack publication. Launched 7 da...

🚨 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 Lack of Action in UN Cyber Discussions Is Partly the Fault of the West In July, the UN’s Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) on cybersecurity successfully concluded five years of negotiations by agreeing on the Global Mechanism, a permanent body that will address issues of i...

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.

Chinas Privatunternehmen unter „Xiconomics“ Während chinesische Tech-Konzerne betonen, unabhängig zu agieren, hat der Parteistaat Mechanismen wie Parteizellen, „Golden Shares“ oder extralegale Druckmittel etabliert, die eine solche Unabhängigke...

„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.

China's next-level AI could overtake US: new report Scientists in China are racing to build next-level "artificial general intelligence" that is infused with Chinese Communist Party values.

“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.

YouTube video by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e.V. Securing Connected Vehicles: European Perspectives on ICT Risks in the Automotive Sector

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:

Wie Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich abschneidet Deutschland ist bei der Absicherung seiner Systeme für das Quantenzeitalter ein internationaler Vorreiter - zumindest auf dem Papier. Die Analyse der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik zeig...

🇩🇪 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

Tagesspiegel Background Cybersecurity coverage (in German)
background.tagesspiegel.de/it-und-cyber...

Quantum Technologies: Ranking Germany’s Ambition and International Reputation This policy brief juxtaposes Germany’s national quantum strategy with ten other published national quantum strategies to examine how Germany’s ambitions in quantum technologies compare to the ambition...

My article w Maria Pericàs is out. It shows that Germany is among the most ambitious & desired bilateral partners in developing quantum tech. We recommend the new Digital Ministry to establish a Quantum Benchmarking Initiative for European companies to propel innovation.
dgap.org/en/research/...

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...

YouTube video by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e.V. Germany’s New Coalition Government

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?...

Looking forward to analyzing the technology aspects of the freshly published German coalition treaty with my colleagues tomorrow morning. Sign-up link is in the comments

For more context see my recent paper with Chung-Kuan Chen: shop.freiheit.org#!/Publikatio...

It was a real pleasure to speak about #China as a risen cyber power at the @virtualroutes.bsky.social colloquium w Zoë van Doren yesterday. Thanks to thought-provoking comments from @euben.bsky.social and great chairing by Lena Riecke & @partomirzaei.bsky.social.