ARTICLE 19 published a report on China’s Digital Silk Road influence – active promotion of internet governance norms in particular – over Indonesia, Pakistan, and Vietnam. The report analyzes how such norms are being integrated and how they challenge “international human rights, internet freedom, and democratic institutions, demanding urgent, contrasting digital governance norms.” ARTICLE 19 argues that Taiwan offers a compelling alternative of balancing security and freedom.
Executive summary
In this report, ARTICLE 19 examines the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) influence over cybersecurity norms through Digital Silk Road-related cooperation in 3 Indo-Pacific countries: Indonesia, Pakistan, and Vietnam. Our findings demonstrate how the PRC’s digital development initiatives are aggressively integrating its governance norms in ways that pose profound challenges to international human rights, internet freedom, and democratic institutions, demanding urgent, contrasting digital governance norms. ARTICLE 19 further documents Taiwan as a more rights-based alternative to the PRC authoritarian model.
The report begins with establishing a baseline understanding of digital governance in the PRC, especially relating to cybersecurity norms. Because the Indo-Pacific region retains its strategic importance for the PRC as it continues to position itself as a global norm-setter in digital governance, understanding its normative diffusion in this region is key to comprehending its audacious global ambition: to fundamentally rewire the world’s digital infrastructure and rewrite the rules governing digital space.
The report continues with 3 country case studies in the Indo-Pacific. We selected each country to show how PRC authoritarian models are spreading through their cybersecurity laws, policies, and institutions, which restrict freedom of expression and the right to privacy. These laws often relate to the management of critical information infrastructure, data localisation and identity verification requirements, digital surveillance, opacity, and comprehensive government control through ‘China-style firewalls’.
Our findings point to the prevalence of PRC influence mechanisms through bilateral cooperation agreements that conflate digital development cooperation with digital governance norms adoption. Public–private partnerships with Chinese tech companies enhance bilateral cooperation. These exchanges, framed as non-political capacity-building efforts, aim to promote the PRC’s digital authoritarian governance model as the best practice.
Through such influence mechanisms, our findings demonstrate PRC norms diffusion. Governments often pass stringent cybersecurity and data localisation laws under the guise of national security or digital economy development. In Indonesia, Pakistan, and Vietnam, the PRC’s emphasis on cyber sovereignty has played a pivotal role in shaping domestic digital governance frameworks.
Another defining feature of the PRC’s influence is the adoption of state-driven surveillance and censorship mechanisms. Indonesia has embraced cyber sovereignty and aligned further with PRC regional leadership through technical capacity exchanges and cooperation agreements. In Pakistan, the development of a China-style firewall and the integration of surveillance technologies from Chinese companies such as Huawei is emblematic. Vietnam has incorporated real-name registration and strict content moderation measures into its cybersecurity laws. Our findings also point to capacity-building programmes, often led by Chinese companies, as creating dependencies that have further entrenched PRC norms and practices in the region.
Critically, this report presents Taiwan as a compelling alternative model for cybersecurity governance. By emphasising multi-stakeholderism over the PRC’s restrictive multilateralism, Taiwan demonstrates a more transparent, civil society-engaged approach to digital governance. The fundamental separation of content regulation from critical information infrastructure governance stands in stark contrast to the PRC’s securitisation strategy.
While acknowledging Taiwan’s model is not without challenges, we argue that increased global engagement with Taiwan would contribute significantly to developing rights-based digital governance alternatives. This report serves not just as an academic investigation, but as an urgent call to action for policymakers, technologists, and human rights advocates worldwide.
By exposing the adverse characteristics of the PRC’s digital model and its pervasive diffusion in the Indo-Pacific, we hope this report will provide a critical roadmap for identifying, understanding, and ultimately countering the profound human rights implications of the PRC’s digital norm-setting ambitions.
Access the full report here.