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In most countries, expansion of the telecommunications network beyond national borders has followed diplomatic and business expansion. On this basis, an informed practitioner might be expecting the Chinese telecommunications system to spread beyond its borders sometime in the later part of this decade. However, Chinese authorities have been quick to act upon a series of unexpected opportunities for acquiring international telecom- munications assets. This article discusses the international secu- rity implications of Chinese telecommunications expansion.

Since the telecommunications collapse of 2001, Chinese buy- ers have purchased several large telecommunications networks in Asia previously owned by U.S. investors. Among these are:

■ PSINet, which was one of the early developers of the Internet. Hong Kong assets were purchased by CITIC, a company reported to have close relations with the People’s Liberation Army.

■ Level 3, which was sold to a joint venture including Pacific Cen- tury CyberWorks, a company run by Richard Li, the son of Hong Kong bil- lionaire Li Ka Shing—both of whom maintain close contacts with central government authorities in Beijing.

■ Asia Global Crossing assets, which was purchased by China Net- com, the newly renamed northern division of the incumbent carrier China Telecom.

■ Global Crossing, Inc., which claims its own Asian assets in a highly publicized pending deal including a direct investment by Hutchin- son Whampoa and Singapore Telemedia. Hutchinson eventually backed out, leaving Singapore Telemedia as the sole potential owner. But, as this paper argues, the deal still facilitates China’s expanding network capa- bility and influence.

These assets, previously paid for by American investors at a cost of up to $20 billion, were bought for an average cost of as lit- tle as 3 cents on the dollar, representing a huge loss of American capital value.1 Each company had extensive networks covering several Asian countries with large capacity circuits and direct ity into the United States.

It is unlikely that such a broad-based move into international telecommunications was simply a fortuitous consequence of China’s transition to a free market economy. Several interesting questions arise. First, to what extent was the Beijing leadership behind this acquisition spree (even though most of the action took place in Hong Kong)? Second, and perhaps more importantly, how will this purchase of assets by national Chinese network services providers enable Chinese interests to control the telecommunications domain in Asia, and how this will impact U.S.-China relations in the areas of military competition and foreign policy? And, third, how will an expanding international telecommunications capability affect internal political and economic developments in China?

Document Type

Policy Brief

Publication Date

7-2003

Publication

Defense Horizons

Publisher

National Defense University Press

City

Washington, DC

Beyond the Mainland: Chinese Telecommunications Expansion

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