U.S., China Tech War May Split The Internet: Reuters

Chinese state-owned telecommunications firms are developing a $500-million undersea fiber-optic Internet cable network to rival a similar US-backed project, Brenda Goh, Ryan Woo, and Michel Rose reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: The more the US and Chinese disengage from each other, the more difficult it becomes to carry out global commerce and basic functions.

The China-led Europe-Middle East-Asia (EMA) project is intended to rival another cable being constructed by US firm SubCom, called SeaMeWe-6 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-6), which will also connect Singapore to France, via Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and half a dozen other countries along the route.

Undersea cables carry more than 95% of all international Internet traffic. The more the US and Chinese disengage from each other, the more difficult it becomes to carry out global commerce and basic functions.

Countries could also be forced to choose between using Chinese-approved Internet equipment or US-backed networks, entrenching divisions across the world and making tools that fuel the global economy slower and less reliable, said Timothy Heath, a defense researcher at the Rand Corp., a US-based think-tank.

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