CHINA
In November 2021, the Chief of SIS highlighted the risk of Chinese debt traps in his speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies: "we want other countries to be clear-eyed about the debt traps, data exposure and vulnerability to political coercion that arise from dependency on relationships where there is no recourse to an independent judiciary or free press".[1]
We were also told that there had been several examples of the Chinese state-owned bank signing debt suspension agreements (***) and that China had also been taking advantage of gaps in international co-operation to expand its influence over international organisations such as the World Health Organization. Director GCHQ observed: "yes, they have been opportunistic, not just in the commercial space but in the rules-based international system space too".[2]
In the summer of 2020, 60% of BRI projects were facing significant challenges as a result of the pandemic, including:
- restrictions on cross-border movement of workers and logistics;
- the worldwide economic downturn increasing the financial burden on China, and
- rising anti-China sentiment across the world.
As a result, China has taken the decision to move away from infrastructure projects and instead focus on its Health Silk Road and its Digital Silk Road.
The Health Silk Road has been epitomised by so-called 'vaccine diplomacy' and 'mask diplomacy', donations of both intended to show that China is the superpower most able to defeat the virus globally. China has been very keen to promote its role in 'health diplomacy'—sometimes exaggerating its work to counter the virus and to develop vaccines—whilst also encouraging the spread of disinformation favourable to Chinese narratives. Disinformation also appears to have been used to sow seeds of doubt about the origin of the virus, including through fake news and conspiracy theories, to deny any fault and sway its domestic audience in particular.
The Digital Silk Road has seen developing countries being given the opportunity to upgrade their digital infrastructure—vital when combating a pandemic by utilising rapid test results and contact tracing—through the donation or subsidisation of Chinese technology. The success of the Digital Silk Road has resulted in China accounting for almost a quarter of global data flows (at the beginning of 2021), twice the amount that the United States accounts for.[3]
- ↑ Chief of SIS, speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, 30 November 2021.
- ↑ Oral evidence—GCHQ, *** October 2020.
- ↑ 'Coronavirus hasn't killed Belt and Road', Foreign Policy, January 2021; 'The Belt and Road Initiative after COVID: The Rise of the Health and Digital Silk Roads', Asian Institute for Policy Studies Issue Brief, March 2021.
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