Against the backdrop of global changes unseen in a century intertwined with a new round of technological revolution, the Digital Silk Road is becoming an important engine for promoting the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It not only continues the spiritual core of connectivity from the ancient Silk Road but also opens up a new channel for digital and intelligent cooperation cooperation towards a community with a shared future for mankind, driven by data as a key factor of production, computing power as a core basic capability, and artificial intelligence (AI) as a powerful driving force.
I. Historical Background: From Initiative to Practice, the Digital Silk Road Emerges at the Right Time
The Belt and Road Initiative has evolved from a grand blueprint into tangible outcomes, achieving substantial progress in policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds.
Currently, digitalization, networking, and intelligence are developing in depth. Data has become a new factor of production, computing power a new foundational productive force, and artificial intelligence a new general-purpose technology. In this context, the proposal and construction of the Digital Silk Road is a key strategy to follow the trend of the times, solve development problems, and deepen international cooperation. The Digital Silk Road aims to promote the digital transformation of the economies and societies of countries along the route through the interconnection and innovative application of digital technologies, thereby achieving leapfrog development and enabling shared access to the dividends of the digital era.
II. Corporate Responsibility: Three-Dimensional Practice and Explorationof Digital Silk Road
As a telecommunications operator ranking among the top globally in terms of network scale, customer scale, and revenue scale, China regards participating in the construction of the Digital Silk Road as a major strategic opportunity and a responsibility of the times. Through continuous investment and innovation in three dimensions—information infrastructure, digital-intelligent industrial ecology, and think tank cooperation networks—it injects solid strength into the Digital Intelligence Silk Road.
First, building a solid global foundation of ubiquitous and integrated information infrastructure.
For digital interconnection, infrastructure must come first. China actively optimizes its global resource layout, building a smart connectivitynetwork that is widely covered, high-speed, reliable, intelligent, and flexible. Currently, China has deployed 360 network access points (PoPs) globally, with data center resources covering 284 major cities and international transmission bandwidth resources reaching 310T.
Particularly notable is the 2Africa submarine cable project, which it initiated and participated in building. This submarine optical fiber cable, with a total length of approximately 45,000 kilometers, connects more than 30 countries across Asia, Europe, and Africa, making it one of the longest submarine cable systems in the world to date. On November 7, 2025, its eastern section was announced to be have been put into operation in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. This significantly enhances the international communication capacity and quality of the African continent and its connectivitytowards Europe and Asia, injecting strong momentum into the extension of the Digital Silk Road in the African region. These infrastructures are like the "steel camel caravans" and "ports" of the digital age, ensuring the smooth flow of data torrents on a global scale.
Second, cultivating an open and collaborative digital-intelligent industrial ecosystem.
The value of infrastructure lies in empowering applications and prospering the ecosystem. China actively builds and integratesitself into the global digital-intelligent industrial ecosystem through multi-level cooperation plans.
At the operator level: The "Hand-in-Hand Program" has united 29 international operators to jointly serve over 3 billion users globally, exploring innovative modes of network interconnection, business interoperability, and experience enhancement.
At the industry empowerment level: The "Star Plan" has gathered over 500 industry partners, focusing on key fields such as industry, energy, transportation, medical care, and education. It offers a wide range of digital solutions and has cumulatively served over 7,000 enterprises along the Belt and Road, helping them reduce costs, increase efficiency, and acheive intelligent transformation.
At the level of frontier technology collaborative innovation: Leveraging the GTI (Global TD-LTE Initiative) international platform, China has brought together 147 member units and 242 partners to jointly promote the R&D, standardization, and industrialization of frontier technologies such as 5G-Advanced (5G-A), 6G, and AI, ensuring that the direction of technological evolution is synchronized with global industrial needs.
Third, contributing professional and forward-looking think tank research and cooperative wisdom.
The high-quality development of the Digital Intelligence Silk Road cannot be separated from ideological guidance and the joint establishment of rules. CM Think Tank, a research institution under China and a member of the Belt and Road Studies Network, continues to conductresearch in frontier fields such as the digital economy, data governance, and AI ethics. It not only releases important research reports on international stages such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), and the World Internet Conference, sharing China's practices and insights, but also provides decision-making support for relevant industry authorities.
At the "Jointly Building The Digital Silk Road"parallel forum of the 2025 Belt and Road International Think Tank Cooperation Forum, CM Think Tank released the white paper "Building the Data Silk Road Together—Data Sensing and Service Network (DSSN) Cross-Border Data Flow Solution." Addressing the global challenge of cross-border data flow, it proposed a systematic solution concept, reflecting the professional capability and responsibility of Chinese enterprises in participating in and even leading discussions on relevant international rules.
III. Future Outlook: Deepening Open Cooperation, Jointly Painting a New Blueprint for the Digital Intelligence Silk Road
Platforms like the Belt and Road International Think Tank Cooperation Forum are important platforms for gathering global wisdom and condensing development consensus. upholding to open cooperation and mutual benefit is an inevitable requirement for the Chinese modernization and the core essence of the Digital Intelligence Silk Road construction. Looking forward, all parties need to deepen collaboration in the following key areas:
Deepen the interconnection and mutual trust of digital infrastructure. Continue to promote the joint construction and sharing of new infrastructure such as cross-border optical cables, data centers, cloud computing platforms, and satellite internet. Pay special attention to eliminating the digital gap between different regions and countries, improving the breadth and depth of network coverage, and ensuring the inclusiveness and security of digital connections.
Promote the synergy of industrial intelligent transformation. Combining the resource endowments and development stages of countries along the route, jointly explore the integrated innovative application of technologies such as AI, big data, and IoT in specific industries like agriculture, manufacturing, culturaland tourism, and environmental protection. Through joint R&D, pilot demonstrations, and capability training, help upgrade traditional industries and cultivate new formats of the digital economy.
Jointly build an inclusive and effective international digital governance framework. Issues such as cross-border data flow, cybersecurity, privacy protection, and AI ethics require a joint response from the international community. The roles of multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and the International Telecommunication Union should be fully leveraged. All parties, including the vast number of developing countries, should be encouraged to actively participate in rule discussions to promote the establishment of a fair, reasonable, transparent, and inclusive global digital governance system, ensuring the Digital Intelligence Silk Road moves steadily and far on a standardized and orderly track.
Conclusion
From the sound of camel bells when Zhang Qian traveled to the Western Regions to today'sdata torrents crossing mountains and seas, the spiritual core of the Silk Road—openness, inclusiveness, and mutual benefit—has been given a brand-new interpretation and sublimation in the digital age.
China 's practice shows that with solid information facilities as the foundation, a prosperous industrial ecosystem as the support, and in-depth think tank cooperation as the guide, the construction of the Digital Intelligence Silk Road can effectively empower the economic and social development of countries along the route. Facing the future, only when governments, enterprises, think tanks, and all sectors of society from all countries move toward each other, gather wisdom, and deepen cooperation, can we jointly create a broader, more prosperous, and inclusive digital future for the Digital Intelligence Silk Road, writing a new chapter for building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Author: China Communications Group Co., Ltd.(China Research Institute)
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