Report: China's Digital Silk Road Spreading Repression

Facts

• The UK-based human rights group Article 19 has claimed that China's Digital Silk Road, launched in 2015, is exporting digital authoritarianism across the world.¹
• The watchdog has alleged that Cambodia, Nepal, and Thailand have been moving toward their version of the Chinese Great Firewall, while Malaysia favors Beijing's digital governance model.²
• This comes as tech companies allegedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party, such as Huawei and ZTE, are said to have been turned into proxies to expand 'digital repression' while building digital infrastructure.³
• China has stated that developing its Digital Silk Road, which aims to boost digital connectivity in countries of the Belt and Road Initiative, is part of its effort to build a digital economy this year.⁴
• Speaking at the Digital Silk Road Development Forum last month, UN Undersecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua said the project has played a crucial role in 'bridging the digital divide.'⁵
• Though all Southeast Asian countries have received investments under the Digital Silk Road project, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore have reportedly received the bulk of funding. Huawei, Alibaba, and ZTE are the initiative's major stakeholders.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²ARTICLE 19, ³Radio Free Asia, ⁴South China Morning Post, ⁵XINHUA and ⁶FULCRUM.

Narratives

• Anti-China narrative, as provided by The Diplomat. China has sought to paint its Digital Silk Road as a harmless project to build digital infrastructure and expand connectivity, hiding its true intentions of turning its authoritarian model of digital governance into an alternative to the rights-based approach to the internet. China is undermining civil liberties abroad and more must be done to protect populations from this malicious interference.
• Pro-China narrative, as provided by Merics. The West has all too often focused on surveillance and espionage when it comes to Chinese projects, so it isn't surprising that one of its publicly funded, so-called non-governmental organizations has purposefully neglected to acknowledge how the Digital Silk Road benefits the Global South. Instead of whining, the West should join Beijing in helping developing countries.

Predictions