China Rolls Out International Undersea Cable with ASEAN, Plans Information Harbor
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Sunday, September 13, 2015
China is building its first international undersea cable that will carry information and data flow between the country and the ASEAN nations, says Xinhuanet. Its also setting up Information Harbor for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
The government run China Unicom, one of the main telecommunications providers in the country, is cooperating with Myanmar's telecommunications operators to build the underwater cable, said Jiang Zhengxin, vice general manager of China United Telecommunications Corp, parent of China Unicom.
China first proposed the Information Harbor initiative in September 2014. The initiative will include five cooperative platforms to benefit China and ASEAN members, covering infrastructure, information sharing, technological innovation, trade services and cultural exchange.
The initiative, aimed to create an information hub for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, a planned network of trade infrastructure mirroring the ancient Silk Road, has been supported and welcomed by ASEAN members, Lu Wei, minister of the State Council’s Cyberspace Administration of China said.
According to China’s plan, a base for the Information Harbor will be set up in Nanning and comprise 34 projects worth 20.9 billion yuan (US$3.3 billion).
The cable will carry information and data flow between China and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member nations, he said, without giving further details of the project, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.