| The Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in April 2019 saw 37 world leaders gather in Beijing to discuss more bilateral project opportunities with China. |
| On the sidelines, however, the emerging Digital Silk Road was featured during the "Belt and Road CEO Conference", a first, which brought representation by global Fortune 500 companies and other Chinese firms as a sign of their interest. |
| Since 2013, Beijing has inked 173 deals with 125 countries and 29 international organizations under the massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Boosting connectivity has been the overarching concept of the BRI. So far, the bulk of Chinese investments have been crowded around physical infrastructure projects in BRI host countries. |
| Agenda of Digital Silk Road: |
| The Digital Silk Road, on the other hand, falls under the subgoal of facilities connectivity of the BRI. It was first introduced as the "Information Silk Road" in a March 2015. |
| Its agenda included strengthening internet infrastructure, deepening space cooperation, developing common technology standards, and improving the efficiency of policing systems among the Belt and Road countries. |
| China is looking to build fibre optic cables, international trunk passageways, mobile structures and e-commerce links. These technologies are designed to supplement the Belt and Road's physical infrastructure; while introducing common technical standards in participating nations, most of which lack rudimentary internet facilities. |
| China is building fibre optic cable projects linking Beijing to Myanmar, Nepal and Kyrgyzstan. It is also installing 5G mobile technology - a central component of Chinas digital economy - across a wide swathe of BRI. |
| Technological interventions by China: |
| Since its launch, the Digital Silk Road has been bringing new waves of technological opportunities for emerging economies in Asia. |
| In 2016, the Chinese Academy of Sciences established two regional research centers in Hainan and Xinjiang as part of a "Digital Earth Under the Information Silk Road" initiative to gather space-based remote sensing data for multiple projects under the BRI, particularly in South and Southeast Asia. |
| At the same time, Chinese industries have also been actively promoting the development of BeiDou- 2, a Chinese-constructed and operated global satellite navigation system set to consist of 35 satellites, by 2020, |
| The China Satellite Navigation Office intends for the BeiDou navigation satellite system to be commercially used worldwide as an alternative to the Global Positioning System (GPS) owned by the U.S government. Already a number of Asian countries including Pakistan, Laos, Brunei, and Thailand have adopted BeiDou |
| But these developments are not only confined to space. In late 2017, Chinese company Huawei Marine partnered with the Pakistani authorities to start constructing the Pakistan East Africa Cable Express, which will connect Pakistan to Kenya and Djibouti. Huawei Marine also oversaw the completion of submarine cable projects in Indonesia and the Philippines, and previously planned to build a submarine cable route from the Solomon Islands to Sydney, Australia before its bid was dropped in favour of Australian government funding. |
A) Indonesia and Pakistan
B) Philippines and Indonesia
C) Philippines and Pakistan
D) Nowhere as its bid was dropped
Correct Answer: B
Solution :
(b) Huawei Marine also oversaw the completion of submarine cable projects in Indonesia and the Philippines, and previously planned to build a submarine cable route from the Solomon Islands to Sydney, Australia before its bid was dropped in favour of Australian government funding.
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