Rumana Ahmed: Why does China understand the importance of 5G and the United States cannot?

Recently, Rumana Ahmed, a former senior adviser to the US National Security Council, published an article on the "Foreign Policy" website on the importance of 5G technology. She believes that 5G technology will determine the future of democracy, and Western countries led by the United States should increase 5G technology research and development and set standards to meet the challenges brought about by the proliferation of Chinese 5G technology around the world. She only expresses her personal views in the text, and the Observer Network translates this article for the reader's reference.

【Text/Rumana Ahmed Translation/Observer Network By Guan Qun】

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a so-called wake-up call to the Group of Seven to defend human rights at a time when China's global influence is on the rise. At the organisation's UK summit, he presented the "Building a Better World (B3W) Partnership Programme". It is a global infrastructure development initiative that aims to mobilize funds in four main areas of low- and middle-income countries: climate, health and health security, digital technologies, gender equity and equality. This is a fairer and more sustainable alternative development program than The Belt and Road Initiative, China's overseas development strategy, which has expanded to more than 70 countries. As the plan suggests, G7 members can no longer ignore the threat that Chinese infrastructure technologies pose to human rights, personal security and democracy around the world.

Biden's plan is an important step in countering China's rising influence. But the plan needs to prioritize technology, especially 5G, which is bringing the world to the next internet age. 5G technology has begun to transform our communications and lifestyles by expanding access to information, automating the delivery of everyday services, and advancing smart cities and smart policing, but the B3W plan does not explicitly mention 5G technology. Essentially, 5G has the power to influence all four areas of the B3W initiative, and how it is built, used and managed can determine whether any country moves toward authoritarianism or democracy. The G7 should recognize the power of 5G and the dangers of misuse of the technology, and it should use 5G technology as a thread connecting its infrastructure plans to elevate the technology's position in the B3W program.

5G is a tool that is easy to weaponize. As countries around the world increasingly need this technology, so do people and infrastructure that are becoming more dependent on 5G. As of February this year, 131 countries around the world have announced 5G investment plans, which will play a fundamental role in the development of future Internet technology. Like the internet and social media, 5G promises to provide more access to information, but it can also collect more data than ever before. Any technology supported by 5G can accelerate the expansion of the scope and scale of information used by people and governments.

This article was published in a recent issue on the U.S. Foreign Policy website

If an authoritarian-leaning country adopts 5G technology, that technology will make authoritarian rule more efficient. In these countries, the adoption of 5G technology is almost entirely determined by government administrations that have little or no oversight. This gives the country's leaders broad control over and management of the flow of data. As a result, mass surveillance and massive violations of human rights ensued. With 5G-backed AI technology and real-time citizen information, leaders can launch larger-scale incendiary disinformation campaigns that violently agitate the polar opposites. At the same time, Internet services in these countries will only be shut down more frequently, while the internet connections of certain political opponents, dissidents and journalists have been cut off in a targeted manner, as has happened in Myanmar, Kashmir, Chad and Nigeria.

As 5G technologies and tools spread to Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, digital authoritarianism is on the rise. Digital authoritarianism has allowed some leaders in Latin America and Africa to have broader control over everything from data streams to radio waves. The Parliament building was installed with eavesdropping devices, political opponents were threatened, and citizens were monitored and censored.

But that doesn't mean 5G technology itself is dangerous. Democracies have every reason to develop and master 5G technology, because increasing the amount of information can improve the administrative efficiency of the country and help the government to better provide services. For example, with 5G autonomous regulation technology, public facilities can become more environmentally friendly. However, 5G's biggest future use may be that it will make more people accessible to digital technologies. Marginalized people and communities face a widening digital divide, especially among women and rural areas, and by providing 5G technology to these groups and communities, countries can give them greater access to information, education and other social benefits.

In healthy democracies, these technologies should be regulated in a way that respects human rights and privacy, not behind closed doors. Companies, social groups, and the general public should work with governments to develop data management rules in a transparent manner. The good news is that Biden's B3W plan makes it clear that he understands the importance of technology in shaping the human rights norms of the international system and giving decisions to stakeholders. But time is running out.

Rather than simply subsidizing rights-respecting companies and expecting them to be market competitive, G7 countries must work with them across regions to promote global standards and practices, with a focus on security for 5G devices, 5G ecosystems, and the flow and control of data, especially when these data relate to data privacy, Internet freedom, and human rights. They also need to increase investment in next-generation technologies and encourage 5G technology access to marginalized people and communities around the world to address today's digital, social and economic inequalities. If they move too slowly, they will cede digital territory to authoritarian states. It's a huge challenge, but if the democracies that make up the G7 work together, they can certainly achieve great success.

Technology will surely affect the future of democracy. Biden's B3W plan is just the first step in setting global technology standards to prioritize and protect data privacy, open digital space, and human rights. Biden needs to acknowledge that if certain technologies and facilities rely specifically on insecure 5G networks, this situation has the potential to hurt democracies. A central question of our time is how we can preserve and consolidate successful democratic institutions as the Internet becomes more widely embedded in the daily lives of citizens. Focusing on 5G technology developments will have the most direct impact on democracy and prevent it from causing the most serious harm to democracy.

(The Observer Network was selected by Guan Qun from the United States Foreign Policy)

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