The Digital Silk Road and Digital Repression in the Indo-Pacific

 Article 19, a UK-based international organization with 9 regional offices devoted to freedom of expression, posted on 18 April 2024 a report titled "The Digital Silk Road: China and the Rise of Digital Repression in the Indo-Pacific."

The report examines China's digital infrastructure and governance influence in Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal, and Thailand.  While the study does not deal with Africa, it offers lessons for China's digital engagement with the continent.

The report argues that assessing China's partnerships and what they mean for rising repression is vital to understanding China's ambitions to rewire the world and rewrite the rules that govern the digital space.  By expanding its authoritarian model, China aims to ultimately supplant the tenets of internet freedom and rights-based principles of global digital governance.  

China's Information Campaign in Africa

 The Diplomat published on 23 October 2024 a commentary titled "China's Battle for Narratives in Africa" by Samir Bhattacharya and Yuvvraj Singh, both with India's Observer Research Foundation.  

China has built narratives to its advantage in Africa, a region that has increasingly become a theater of great power rivalry.  China's information strategy in Africa consists of three parts.  First, it hosts and trains numerous African media professionals each year, teaching them to promote Chinese investments as a positive force.  Second, China invests in local African media outlets, influencing their editorial practices to align with the Chinese narrative.  Third, China sells technology to African governments that enables tighter control over digital information, including blocking websites and shutting down internet access.  

China Is Critical to Africa's Digital Development, But At What Cost?

 The Conversation published on 27 February 2024 a commentary titled "Africa Needs China for Its Digital Development--But at What Cost?" by Stephanie Arnold, University of Bologna.

China's involvement by companies such as Huawei and ZTE has been critical in African digital development. While it is often argued that China has been successful because it offers the cheapest technology, the author suggests it is due more to the fact that Chinese contractors are attractive partners because they offer full package solutions that include financing. 

The downside is that China seeks to promote Chinese digital standards and norms, including its technological and ideological principles.  That includes China's interpretation of human rights, data privacy, and freedom of speech.  China's Digital Silk Road seeks to establish a Sino-centric global digital order.  Over-reliance on a single infrastructure supplier makes the client more vulnerable and can result in digital authoritarianism.  The remedy is to diversify infrastructure supply.  

 

Articles on China's Presence in Africa

 Good Governance Africa published in June 2023 an edition with a series of articles on China's presence in Africa titled "Sovereignty in an Emerging Multipolar World."

The articles are:

--Chinese Media in South Africa: An Overview by Barry Van Wyk.

--Resuscitating Indigenous Languages through Translanguaging Pedagogy within the Evolution and Dynamics of Teaching Mandarin in Nigeria and South Africa by Philip Ademola Olayoku.

--Chinese Companies' Corporate Social Responsibility in the Eyes of Local Communities in Kenya: A Public diplomacy Approach by Cliff Mboya.

--Chinese Vloggers' Representations of Sub-Saharan Africa on Douyin: An Exploratory Study by Isak Wang and Ann Wang.

--The China Factor in Africa's Pursuit of Digital Sovereignty by Mandira Bagwandeen.

Is Chinese-financed Surveillance Eroding Democracy in Mauritius?

 The National Endowment for Democracy and International Forum for Democratic Studies published on 15 December 2022 a document titled "Smart Cities and Democratic Vulnerabilities," which contains a contribution (pages 11-17) titled "Is Digitalization Endangering Democracy in Mauritius?" by Roukaya Kasenally, University of Mauritius.

Over the last five years, Mauritius has experienced significant democratic backsliding.  Worrying trends include arbitrary arrests of journalists and other citizens, amendments to broadcasting and digital legislation, closures of certain private radio stations, the political weaponization of the police, and the weakening of key oversight institutions.  

Adding to this situation is the Mauritius Safe City Project (MCSP), one of more than twenty Huawei-backed smart or "safe" city projects across Africa.  In Mauritius, it involved the installation of 4,000 cameras with facial recognition and license plate recognition capabilities.  The author argues that the real intent behind the $455 million project financed by a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China remains unclear.  But critical questions about how the MCSP will affect Mauritian politics against the backdrop of the country's recent democratic backsliding are unanswered.    

Surveillance Across Africa: Are There Abuses?

 The East African published on 3 December 2022 an in-depth article titled "Across East Africa, Big Brother Is Watching Your Every Move."  

China's Huawei and Israel's Pegasus supply surveillance equipment that now covers much of Africa.  There are growing concerns, however, that these projects, which combine video-surveillance, internet monitoring, and mobile phone meta-data collection, are giving the government the ability, not just to go after criminals, but to illegally spy on and monitor political opponents, activists, and journalists.  

Russian Mercenaries Expand Activity in Africa

 The New York Times published on 31 May 2022 an article titled "Putin's Shadow Soldiers: How the Wagner Group Is Expanding in Africa" by Declan Walsh.

Soldiers from Russia's mercenary Wagner Group are active in wars in Mali, CAR, Mozambique, and Libya.  It is far more than a guns for hire organization and props up autocrats, orchestrates digital propaganda, and produces action movies set in Africa.  It is an unofficial tool of Russian power.  

China and Africa's Digital Authoritarianism

 The London School of Economics blog posted on 9 September 2021 a commentary titled "Don't Blame China for the Rise of Digital Authoritarianism in Africa" by Mandira Bagwandeen, University of Cape Town.  

The author argues that by blaming digital authoritarianism in Africa on China alone, and overlooking the roles of other offenders, risks oversimplifying a complex environment.