With the aid of its extensive IT sector and large-scale infrastructure projects, China is exporting its model of digital authoritarianism overseas, providing a template of “best practices” to neighbors like Cambodia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, a human rights monitor has warned.
China started its “Digital Silk Road” project in 2015, two years after launching its vast Belt and Road plan, with the goal of increasing access to digital infrastructure, including satellites, 5G connectivity, underwater cables, and more.
The goal of the Digital Silk Road is to shift internet governance norms and standards away from a free, open, and interoperable internet and toward a fragmented digital ecosystem that is based on censorship and surveillance and where China plays a major role. This is in addition to promoting China’s tech industry and developing digital infrastructure.
