cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/11665362

Cross posted from: https://feddit.de/post/11665211

Here is the download link for the report (pdf)

China is exporting its model of digital authoritarianism abroad with the help of its far-reaching tech industry and massive infrastructure projects, offering a blueprint of “best practices” to neighbours including Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam, Article 19, a United Kingdom-based human rights group, has warned.

In 2015, two years after kicking off its massive Belt and Road initiative, China launched its “Digital Silk Road” project to expand access to digital infrastructure such as submarine cables, satellites, 5G connectivity and more.

Article 19 argues that the project has been about more than just expanding access to WiFi or e-commerce.

In October 2023, at the third Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China’s leader Xi Jinping signalled his intention to focus away from the more grandiose legacy projects of the Belt and Road Initiative in favour of ‘small yet smart’ projects. “This acknowledgement of Party priorities reiterates the need to better understand the scope of China’s global ambitions to reshape digital governance – away from an open, free and interoperable internet, in favour of a model based on government control and mass surveillance,” the organization said in a report released in April.

Chinese national tech champions, including Huawei, ZTE and Alibaba, have been at the forefront of the Digital Silk Road partnerships, and related development assistance projects.

The companies, effectively proxies for the Chinese Communist Party priorities, have become the leading technology infrastructure providers in the region, especially when it comes to 5G, submarine fibre-optic cables and satellite systems.