China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” often conjures up mental images of railways, roads, and ports – heavy infrastructure used to transport goods and people. But there are many subsets of the BRI, including the “Digital Silk Road,” which emphasizes digital infrastructure: from 5G and fiber optic cables to e-commerce and AI technology – including digital surveillance and censorship tech.
Michael Caster, the Asia Digital Program Manager at Article19, is the lead author of a recent report on the Digital Silk Road in the Indo-Pacific. In this interview, he discusses the link between China’s digital investments abroad and digital repression.