China trying 'coercive' ways to 'sabotage' digital infra of nations

BEIJING: China is trying to use "coercive" ways to sabotage the digital infrastructure of nations that are least bothered about the growing threat of Beijing, Voice Against Autocracy reported.

The report further said that China's technological expansion is being led by Chinese firms that have been taking over global surveillance around the world, Voice Against Autocracy reported.

Chinese telecommunication firms like Huawei, Hik vision, ZTE Corps and others in the past 10 years have been funded by the Chinese Communist Party. According to the Voice Against Autocracy report, "China with its peculiar objectives is attempting to by-pass the obstacle of convincing nations to entrust its rise but, on a total contrary, is rather on the path of using coercive means to sabotage the digital infrastructure of nations that are least concerned about the rising Chinese threat."

As per the report, Huawei controls around 30% of the global telecom infrastructure market and has been able to gain 91 contracts from different cities around the world to develop 5G networks.

The Chinese state apparatus has been motivating technological companies to expand around the world in sectors related to cyber security, digital surveillance, AI-enabled facial recognition and others.

The Chinese Communist Party has approved subsidies worth up to $75 billion to Huawei and around $694 million to Hikvision in recent years. The report said that China's subsidies to companies like Huawei and Hikvision have resulted in "many to suspect that a global tech takeover is part of the CCP's global vision of domination."

The subsidies approved by the government have enabled these companies to sell their equipment for up to 30% lower than their competitors resulting in a disruption in the market. According to the report, the worrying factor regarding Chinese tech companies' expansion has been the security threat they pose to the host nation.

Recently, the United States has listed five of these prominent Chinese companies as a severe threat to national security causing many nations to backtrack on their signed contracts with these firms. The firms mentioned in the US list include ZTE Corps, Hikvision and Huawei and some others.

A major portion of the threat comes from China's internal legislation that has made it mandatory for these companies to give any form of data that the CCP will raise demand to be sought.

The National Intelligence Law of China introduced in 2017 calls for citizens and domestic institutions to aid the government in intelligence gathering in matters that the state considers necessary. For CCP's part, it is an effort to collect vital and sensitive data that could enable it to have an advantage over other nations.

The report mentioned the 'Safe City' initiative developed by Huawei "concerning the automation of policing through a video camera and other digitalized technologies."

The technology allows for monitoring and diagnosing suspicious activities in the region. The 'Smart City initiative' allows the use of video surveillance tech which is working to automate municipal operations in the local governments.

Surveillance and technology experts have claimed that Huawei's technology has more often than failed on its vulnerability test and are vulnerable to backdoor meddling, as per the Voice Against Autocracy report. Huawei has claimed to have completed creating around 160 Smart City projects in 100 countries, which the report said pose a national security threat and are a direct infringement of national sovereignty.

Recently, a Washington-based think tank has claimed that Huawei was making advances in the cloud infrastructure sector. The company has signed 70 agreements with 41 nations for creating a mechanism that will facilitate the technological infrastructure.

These deals mostly take place with developing nations who have been attracted due to China's financing, noting that the agreements are mostly confidential, Voice Against Autocracy reported.

As per the report, China's technological reforms are driven by Chinese President Xi Jinping's idea of creating a "digital silk route predominantly led by China and its companies."

The idea poses serious threats to the digital sovereignty of various nations that have accepted the projects introduced by Chinese companies like Huawei and others. These impact the parent nation's digital autonomy and give Chinese entities the power of closing entire systems built by firms that are run by the CCP.

Many nations have started realising the threat posed by Chinese technological advancements, however, many countries still depend on Chinese firms. According to the report, Africa has been heavily dependent on Chinese tech for their overall development and subsidiaries of Huawei and its partnering firms own up to 70% of the 4G network in the African continent.

Countries from Southeast and West Asia have started digitalizing through Chinese technologies. European nations have been entangled in these projects that pose vulnerability to the concerned nations.