Author: Lilian Cheah
Cheah, Lilian, 2020 China’s Digital Silk Road in the Belt and Road Initiative, Flinders University, College of Business, Government and Law
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The Digital Silk Road (DSR) in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is China’s global digital infrastructure project connecting Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond to China. Its elements are hardware such as 5G fibre-optic cables and networks, satellites and mobile handsets; and software including ICT (Information and Communication Technology) applications such as fintech, smart cities, and e-commerce. The DSR is crucial for China’s development and its ambition for technological leadership in the digital revolution of the 21st century and ultimately President Xi Jinping’s ‘China Dream’. Since he came to power China’s domestic industrial and foreign policies have been directed towards producing high-tech, cutting edge ICT goods and services to successfully expand globally via the DSR and to compete with competitors such as the US, Japan and Germany. Domestically, strong state-led policies such as subsidies, tax breaks, large investments in R&D and pursuing technology catch-up in core and strategic technologies such as robotics, AI, 5G support Chinese tech giants to compete globally. For economies along the BRI Chinese 5G technologies are promoted as affordable and effective, and many have signed up. The DSR is the backbone of the digital economy. China’s lead in 5G challenges US dominance in the technology space. Consequently, the US discredits China’s technology as posing a threat to national security. This thesis argues, on balance, that the DSR delivers more benefits in the development of BRI economies than challenges, with the potential to deliver China’s much touted ‘win-win’ outcomes for the global digital economy.
Keywords: Belt and Road (BRI), Digital Silk Road (DSR), geopolitics and geoeconomic, digital infrastructure, ICT hardware such as 5G fibre-optic cables and networks, satellites and mobile handsets, ICT software including such as fintech, smart cities, and e-commerce, technological leadership, ICT, China's domestic industrial policy, Chinese tech giants,
Subject: International Relations thesis
Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2020
School: College of Business, Government and Law
Supervisor: Dr Michael Sullivan