Advertisement
Belt and Road Initiative
ChinaDiplomacy

Can China’s ‘digital silk road’ ensure dominant role in information super highway?

  • The Peace cable, which is due to be completed later this year, will link Pakistan to Europe and Africa
  • But the project, and Huawei’s involvement, has raised security concerns in the United States

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
5
China has funded a series of infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative. Photo: Reuters
Jevans Nyabiage

China is building a new information superhighway connecting China, Europe and Africa in a project dubbed the “digital silk road”.

One of the key pieces of infrastructure is the 15,000km (9,3000mile) Pakistan & East Africa Connecting Europe (Peace) cable, which is expected to be completed later this year.

The submarine cable starts in Gwadar and Karachi in Pakistan, and transits through various sites in Africa, including Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia and Egypt, to terminate in Marseilles, France. It will be extended to South Africa in the second phase. Karachi and Gwadar are already connected to China via an overland cable that became operational last year.

Advertisement

But the project has caused disquiet in Washington, especially during Donald Trump’s administration, which feared that Beijing was using technology to spy on its systems.

The involvement of the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies Co, which Trump blacklisted due to security fears has heightened those concerns.

Jonathan Hillman, a senior fellow and director of the Reconnecting Asia Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the Peace cable aims to become the shortest link between Asia and Africa and will connect several belt and road hotspots, including Pakistan, Djibouti, and Kenya – all places where China has pursued major infrastructure projects.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x