China’s Digital Silk Road Initiative: A Boon for Developing Countries or a Danger to Freedom?
Beijing launched the Digital Silk Road (DSR) as part of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2015 with a loose mandate.
DSR offers supports Chinese exporters, including many well-known Chinese technology companies. The DSR assistance goes toward improving recipients’ telecommunications networks, artificial intelligence capabilities, cloud computing, e-commerce and mobile payment systems, surveillance technology, smart cities, and other high-tech areas.
Some democracies have raised serious concerns that China may use DSR to enable recipient countries to adopt its model of technology-enabled authoritarianism. Chinese technology companies have already helped governments in other countries develop surveillance capabilities and Beijing has provided training for interested DSR recipient countries on how to monitor and censor the internet.
Building 5G network with Chinese companies could risk espionage and coercion of other states’ politics if Beijing used data breaches to blackmail political elites in those states. DSR could also help recipient countries better control their internets through filtering, content moderation, data localization, and surveillance.
Source: The Diplomat #Dec17
https://thediplomat.com/2020/12/chinas-digital-silk-road-initiative-a-boon-for-developing-countries-or-a-danger-to-freedom/
#BRI #DSR #China #ChinaDigitalThreat #ChineseTechnologySurveillance
Beijing launched the Digital Silk Road (DSR) as part of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2015 with a loose mandate.
DSR offers supports Chinese exporters, including many well-known Chinese technology companies. The DSR assistance goes toward improving recipients’ telecommunications networks, artificial intelligence capabilities, cloud computing, e-commerce and mobile payment systems, surveillance technology, smart cities, and other high-tech areas.
Some democracies have raised serious concerns that China may use DSR to enable recipient countries to adopt its model of technology-enabled authoritarianism. Chinese technology companies have already helped governments in other countries develop surveillance capabilities and Beijing has provided training for interested DSR recipient countries on how to monitor and censor the internet.
Building 5G network with Chinese companies could risk espionage and coercion of other states’ politics if Beijing used data breaches to blackmail political elites in those states. DSR could also help recipient countries better control their internets through filtering, content moderation, data localization, and surveillance.
Source: The Diplomat #Dec17
https://thediplomat.com/2020/12/chinas-digital-silk-road-initiative-a-boon-for-developing-countries-or-a-danger-to-freedom/
#BRI #DSR #China #ChinaDigitalThreat #ChineseTechnologySurveillance
The Diplomat
China’s Digital Silk Road Initiative: A Boon for Developing Countries or a Danger to Freedom?
Some observers worry that it will equip authoritarian governments with next-generation surveillance technologies.