The Geopolitics of Tech: Baidu's Vietnam

Abstract

This paper investigates the international expansion of one of China's biggest internet technology companies, Baidu, using Baidu's recent attempted expansion into Vietnam as a test case and taking a mixed methods approach. This paper contributes a new area of research on the geopolitical associations of internet technology platforms to existing studies of the social, political implication of information technology. It adds to studies of the state in cyberspace by showing that, at least for Chinese companies in Vietnam, the state is embodied in perceptions of the platform, even outside the state's physical borders: the company itself is 'bordered'. Show more