China’s ‘Great Firewall’ Spreads to Other Countries
Reinforcing authoritarianism in Pakistan and beyond
By: Salman Rafi Sheikh
China has spent decades framing—and continues to frame—its partnership with BRI member states as purely economic. That China doesn’t interfere in the domestic politics of its member countries has been one of the key hallmarks of Beijing’s self-styled model of economic development, making it different from the sort of interventionism that characterizes the West in general, and the US in particular.
China, however, no longer appears to be different, with Beijing supporting the installation of “Great Firewalls”—systems of censorship and surveillance to control access to the internet and keep its citizens from hearing or experiencing anything the government doesn’t approve of. It operates by blocking access to websites and services, filtering content, and monitoring online activities.
The firewall, also known as the Golden Shield Project in China, allows member states such as Pakistan to monitor, restrict, and even block access to the internet and foreign websites. Beijing’s political entanglements in target states are already taking an obvious form with one clear purpose: to help extend the typically closed Chinese model of political system to other states. Other countries are thought to be using Chinese technologies for their own control measures, although the extent of this collaboration can’t be pinned down…