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Belt and Road Initiative
ChinaDiplomacy

China-US tech war ‘in crucial decade’ as developing nations pick sides

  • Wider access to internet and urban growth could reshape global networks by 2030, Washington think tank says in report
  • With China and the US set to compete for the spoils, Beijing has begun building its ‘digital silk road’

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Mobile phone masts in Johannesburg, where Chinese firm Huawei is a supplier, are a reminder of the opportunities in Africa. Photo: Bloomberg
Rachel Zhang
China and the United States are poised to compete fiercely on communications and network technologies in the developing world, which will play a growing role in global networks in the next decade, experts say – and Belt and Road Initiative countries could be a main battleground.

More than half of the global population has limited or no internet access, but more of the developing world is expected to come online in the next decade.

That projected trend could reshape global networks, according to Washington think tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Nine of the 10 new global megacities set to emerge by 2030 will be in Asia and Africa, and the two continents are forecast to account for 90 per cent of global population growth by 2050, it said.

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Chinese company finishes longest tunnel for Indonesia's Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway

Chinese company finishes longest tunnel for Indonesia's Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway

Developing countries’ choice of communications systems “will impact the trajectory of the world’s largest network providers” and could make the next decade decisive in the China-US technology rivalry, the centre said in its report “Global Networks 2030”, released last month.

“After adopting equipment, countries may be locked in by high replacement costs,” the report said. “As these economies grow, the companies providing their technology will capture market share, which will underwrite their research and development investments and position them to set standards.”

In this competition for developing markets, China has advanced its vision: the “digital silk road”, a branch of Beijing’s infrastructure investment strategy, the belt and road. Announced in 2015, the digital silk road constitutes aid for countries to improve their telecommunications networks, broadband internet coverage, e-commerce and mobile payment systems.

Under the digital initiative, China has signed memorandums of understanding with at least 16 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Europe. It has built more than 30 cross-border land cables and over 10 international subsea cables with belt and road countries, and Beijing’s financing for Africa’s digital infrastructure has surpassed that of African governments, multilateral agencies and Group of Seven nations combined.

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