In their work on power in private forms of global governance, Büthe and Mattli (2011) argue that “institutional complementarity”—the degree of fit between national and international institutions—is a central factor; actors whose national institutions are more closely aligned with international organizations are best able to promote their preferred rules. For rising powers, this logic of institutional complementarity constitutes a powerful incentive to align domestic rule-making with international institutions. Based on document analysis, interviews and original survey data, this paper explores the complex institutional dynamics of the emergence of Chinese actors as leading players in the setting of digital standards. Chinese actors have sought to take a step closer to international norms through a series of domestic reforms that aim to expand the role of market forces while also retaining a strong guiding role for the state. At the same time, public authorities in Europe and the US argue that is necessary for the state to become more active in standardization processes in order to protect digital standard-setting processes from being captured by China. In effect, the logic of institutional complementarity appears, paradoxically, to be pushing international institutions closer to China’s model of standardization. In this paper, we analyze the complex emerging dynamics of institutional adaptation in global digital standard-setting.