Codes, Cables, and Control: Cyber-politics Of Digital Silk Road In Global South

In the contemporary digital age, where cables beneath oceans dictate global politics, the fight for digital dominance is real, and China is making its claims not with tanks but with tech. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has long been seen as a vehicle for China’s strategic outreach across continents through road and maritime connectivity. Digital and technological connectivity is the third arm of the Border and Road Initiative and is reshaping geopolitical equations in the digital age. Digital Silk Road (DSR) was mentioned for the first time in 2015. Chinese Premier Xi Jinping in his speech at opening ceremony of Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation has mentioned that, “We should pursue innovation driven development and intensify cooperation in frontier areas such as digital economy, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and quantum computing and advance the development of big data and cloud computing to turn them into digital silk road of twenty first century.”

At its core, the DSR is not merely a technological initiative but a strategic instrument in cyber-politics. It also plays a vital role in creating digital interdependence and facilitating e-commerce and data collaboration worldwide. The Digital Silk Road also aims to counter American hegemony in cyberspace. Contrary to American premises of cyber liberty, the Digital Silk Road is based on a vision of cyber sovereignty, a narrative to redefine cyberspace governance. According to the Observer Research Foundation, China has signed bilateral agreements with 40 countries to build a digital infrastructure. Chinese digital companies have also offered technology contracts across the Indo-Pacific, Africa, and other regions. Through DSR projects, China will aim to control global technological nodes and points in the global south, making it a comprehensive form of cyber-statecraft, not just tech infrastructure.

Additionally, it's also influencing flows and patterns of the global south, as it assumes an essential position in changing world power dynamics and technological governance has become an important theme that shapes the world's discursive and material dimensions. As emerging powers like India propose alternatives grounded in capacity-building and digital public goods, the Global South stands at a critical crossroads to align, resist, or redefine the terms of engagement in a rapidly polarising digital order.

Situating the Digital Silk Road (DSR) in the Global South

Technological development is essential to shape contemporary geopolitics, while innovation is necessary for tomorrow. Digital Silk Road focuses on all critical sectors of technological connectivity, such as infrastructure building, network connectivity, submarine cables, state-industry partnerships, and cyber sovereignty. It provides China with a vital role in the digitized and globalized world. However, this digital ambition also intersects with the vulnerabilities and aspirations of the Global South, making it both a collaborator and a contested arena.

Digital Battleground of the Global South 

In the global south, many countries that are part of DSR are still in their initial phase of digital integration. It further provides China with leverage to control its path towards digital development. Additionally, many African and Indo-Pacific countries still face internal challenges such as the digital divide and isolation. These vulnerabilities risk turning them into pawns in larger geopolitical contests. Secondly, the global south is also asserting its agency to access and shape the development of AI, reflecting its own socio-political context. DSR is presented as an alternative to Western technologies in this context. However, over-dependence on Chinese multi-sectoral and centralized technological firms will result in technological lock-in as the focus is only on outcomes rather than on developing countries' capacities.  Thirdly, DSR focuses on nano-computing, cloud-computing technologies and big data storage technologies, allowing it to shape blockchain technology's development. Blockchain technology is the future of data collation, and it further allows the Chinese government to exercise surveillance, data control, and digital authoritarianism. Increasing use of blockchain technology in critical sectors such as healthcare, finance, communication, hospitality and so on further intensifies the Chinese area of exercising indirect influence.

However, China is introducing cutting-edge technologies through DSR, which will facilitate economic integration of the Global South. It further affects the diversification of technological innovation and the capacity-building of participating countries. Universalised vision of DSR also dilutes the struggle of the global south for multilateralism and representation of local voices, instead it will only replace Western authorities with Chinese authorities, reinforcing control, domination and denial of identities.

Potholes in the Road: Critical Analysis 

The Chinese vision of establishing an expansionist regime also draws on the background of DSR projects. As a manifestation of soft power politics, it also aims to increase the area of Chinese influence by integrating small countries' economies through centralised technologies. On the one hand, DSR provides specific opportunities to improve the digital domain of the Global South. On the other hand, serious loopholes are affecting the agency of the Global South in the long run.

Geopolitical Challenges

The vision of DSR is to ensure that singular digital integration is further translated into the proliferation of Chinese technology. It also led countries to be mere digital consumers and not producers. It is also a slippery slope to data authoritarianism, as it favours centralized state control over the internet. Secondly, approaching from the standpoint of proliferation and control can also lead to a digital cold war in submarine infrastructure development. A struggle will involve ideologies and digital infrastructure development, sustaining particular ideological positions. Analysing through geopolitical destiny, where global struggle is inevitable among rising powers, DSR will lead rising countries to become involved in the digital race to control their areas of influence.

Infrastructural Dependency

According to the Observer Research Foundation, between 2017 and 2022, Chinese companies invested US$23 billion in the Indo-Pacific region under DSR projects, mainly to establish surveillance and undersea cable networks and 4G, 5G network expansion. Kenya’s Huawei-based surveillance grid, Laos' dependence on China's submarine cable, and Pakistan and Sri Lanka's inclusion in DSR clearly reflect Beijing's strategic interest.

Institutionalised Exclusion

DSR also involves collaboration between the Chinese government and companies, allowing private companies to capture markets in underdeveloped countries and restricting the capacity of local entrepreneurs to establish themselves in the market. It reflects the Chinese subtle strategic approach to harness technological opportunities offered by the underdevelopment of countries in establishing its hegemony and developing well-controlled, surveillanced networks worldwide, especially when rivalry with Washington is apparent.

India's Role in the Digital Sphere 

The binary between cyber liberty and cyber sovereignty has created a gap in the form of lack of development of capacity-building resources, which will empower countries to design their own developmental path. India can utilise this gap to promote digital connectivity based on a cyber capacity-building vision. India has also created a global Digital Public Infrastructure to facilitate digital transformation in developing countries. Along with building sustainable infrastructure, India also needs to focus on training programs, workshops and knowledge sharing initiatives to improve digital literacy in countries of the global south, so that their digital skills can be improved. It will further allow countries to shape the development of AI, blockchain technology, nano-computing technologies and many others, reflecting their social, political and economic interests.

Additionally, India needs to focus on digital innovations so that the agency and voice of the Global South can be strengthened. It can also focus on partnership and collaboration projects, as well as sharing and integrating technologies in sectors such as healthcare, tourism, economy, MSMEs, education, skill development, and so on. It will not only empower receiving countries but also help in building resilience in the Global South. Based on this vision, India can lead the Global South on global platforms by establishing resilient, empowered, and innovative digital spheres.

Conclusion 

Nowadays, digital projects are not value-neutral when technology shapes almost every interaction domain between countries. The Digital Silk Road project is also deeply embedded in geopolitical strategy with an asymmetric impact on the Global South. Instead, the global south needs a digital agency. There is a need to decentralise digitalisation so that the structural vulnerabilities and dependencies that have long defined the Global South are not simply reproduced in digital form. There is a need to establish multipolar tech orders, regional digital resilience, and digital non-alignment to ensure representative and inclusive integration of the Global South.