Open-Source Intelligence in Crisis: Navigating China’s Restrictions

Picture this: the United States blocks foreign access to the Bloomberg Terminal, JSTOR academic database, and ZoomInfo market intelligence all at once. How would institutions relying on valuable U.S. data adapt? This question bedevils China analysts across many industries — and for them, it’s not theoretical.

In September 2022, China began to block anybody outside its borders from accessing major databases key to global scholarship and commerce. Since then, international researchers have been scrambling to work around the dearth of accurate information coming from inside the world’s second largest economy.

From government agencies to Wall Street investors, countless institutions rely on regular, stable access to publicly available information about Chinese companies and leaders. That’s true regardless if an institution is trying to work with China — or to avoid it. But, due diligence researchers relying on Chinese corporate databases like Qichacha, Wind, and Tianyancha to write reports on China’s space capabilities and China-Russia defense trade are increasingly unable to log in. Academic researchers are struggling after the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) platform began cutting off U.S. universities from parts of its database of statistical and academic publications. More broadly, analysts worry that the window for Western and Chinese researchers to cooperate and share knowledge is rapidly closing. That’s not good for either side.

What are China researchers to do? What’s behind China’s decision to restrict certain databases, and how will it reshape the due diligence landscape?

Join The China Project for an intimate, collaborative discussion with veteran researchers of Chinese open-source intelligence. Together, we can reflect on the latest challenges, discuss their implications for due diligence work, and exchange best practices.