Digital Silk Road and Cyberpolitics in Africa: The Ethiopian Case

As one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, Ethiopia began its transition toward a digital economy in order to sustain and further develop its main economic sectors. Crucial to this process is the development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), as less than a fourth of its population has access to Internet, limiting the scope of its markets and the country’s overall connectivity. In this context, China has a central role to Ethiopian economy, being a key partner and provider of telecoms infrastructure through the Digital Silk Road (DSR), one of the Belt and Road Initiative’s (BRI) arms. Ranging from 4G networks and fiber optic cables to storage sharing and cloud computing, the DSR promotes the internationalization of Chinese tech firms such as ZTE and Huawei, which have an ever-growing presence in the region. On the one hand, the initiative has the potential to increase intraregional connectiveness, reduce digital divide, and complexify local economies. On the other, DSR could generate security concerns regarding Chinese surveillance services and equipment provided to national governments, and their dependency on Chinese ICTs. Navigating through the different narratives regarding Chinese presence in the country, this chapter analyzes China’s DSR role and socioeconomic impact on Ethiopian ICTs efforts. Applying a Neo-Gramscian perspective of the International Political Economy, Ethiopia is taken as a case study to China’s DSR influence over cyberpolitics hegemonic dispute in Africa, shedding light on the constraints, possibilities, and contradictions of Sino-African relations. Methodologically, this chapter uses data gathered by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute project “Mapping China’s Tech Giants” to identify Chinese tech firms’ presence in the country, analyzing qualitatively their efforts in ICT development. Beyond analyzing the DSR as a hegemonic Chinese geopolitical strategy, the combination of different research sources and actors intends to obtain a comprehensive understanding of Sino-Ethiopian socioeconomic relations, giving agency to both state and non-state actors involved.