The Digital Silk Road

September 1, 2021
A probing look at China's quest to dominate the technosphere. Hillman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, specializes in monitoring the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, intended to extend the Silk Road of old all the way to the Atlantic and to control commerce and resources around the world. This involves the digital world as well. "The CCP [Chinese Communist Party]," he writes, "is harnessing communications technology to cement its control at home and expand its influence abroad." The mechanisms of this control should worry civil libertarians and geopoliticians alike: Two Chinese companies produce 40% of the world's security cameras, another is one of just four companies that supply the fiber optic submarine cables that carry almost all international data, and China manufactures components that American missiles require. Hillman refutes the notion that with internet connectivity comes increased freedom. Instead, he observes, China has been putting much of its energy into security technology such as AI-driven facial recognition systems. And not just against its citizens: Kenya, it turns out, is one of the world's up-and-coming surveillance states, armed with Chinese technology. China has been active throughout Africa in particular, securing rare earth minerals and other commodities and reinforcing infrastructure among its partner and client states, while the West has been turning its back on a continent that is projected to grow economically in the near future. Hillman argues that the "U.S. government must become more entrepreneurial in how it approaches foreign markets and emerging technologies," developing a venture capital fund to outdo Chinese financial intervention. The government also needs to get a better handle on the fire hose of data that China has been putting to good work analyzing world shipping traffic, farm yields, energy use, and other points that indicate weak spots and market and strategic opportunities. A cogent warning that the West has much work to do if it is to contain Chinese expansion into cyberspace.

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September 7, 2021
Napoleon Bonaparte may have referred to China as a sleeping giant, but there's little doubt that the country is now wide awake. Hillman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, here examines how China is positioning itself to become the world superpower in digital infrastructure by the year 2050. Hillman cites multiple examples of China's ever-increasing international influence, including its expansive networks (underground, underseas, wireless, satellite) and its attempts to arbitrate global connectivity standards (thus becoming the sole supplier). Security and surveillance also loom large as Hillman discusses the philosophical differences between East and West about the purposes of connectivity and describes frighteningly accurate and intrusive cameras already in use by the Chinese government (and currently for sale to interested buyers). Numerous examples prove just how pervasive Chinese mega-companies like Huawei already are, whether in Afghanistan, Africa, or Montana, and Hillman warns against complacency and underestimating China's technological ambitions. His writing is lucid and nuanced, and his warning that America needs to wake up is timely and compelling.

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