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China’s digital footprint raises Pakistan sovereignty questions (Img: X)
New Delhi: China’s growing involvement in Pakistan’s digital economy is helping accelerate the country’s technological modernisation. But the expanding dependence on Chinese technology could also pose a long-term challenges for Pakistan’s digital sovereignty.
According to a report by Greece-based publication Geopolitico. Chinese technology companies, particularly Huawei, have expanded their involvement in Pakistan’s telecommunications, cloud computing, smart-city projects and artificial intelligence. While these investments can provide infrastructure and expertise that Pakistan may otherwise take years and significant domestic investment to develop, the report has raised questions about what greater dependence could mean for the country’s technological autonomy.
Chinese companies are also conducting training programmes for Pakistani students and professionals in areas including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud services. Such programmes could help develop local skills and improve Pakistan’s digital readiness.
However, the report pointed to a potential problem if engineers, government departments and private companies become heavily trained in proprietary Chinese systems. Moving to technologies from other suppliers later could involve significant financial and operational costs.
"Once a country’s databases, cloud infrastructure, telecom equipment and cybersecurity architecture are built around one technological ecosystem, diversification becomes both expensive and operationally difficult," the report noted.
The concern becomes more significant when foreign technology is integrated into critical national infrastructure. Pakistan could develop national databases, cybersecurity systems and digital-governance platforms in close cooperation with Chinese companies and institutions.
According to the publication, this could also result in the adoption of Chinese technical norms and data-management standards.
The issue is not limited to the technology itself. Greater dependence on a single technological ecosystem could affect Pakistan’s control over software, source code, access permissions, encryption standards and data storage.
The report argued that Chinese influence could create a "technological path dependence powerful enough to constrain national sovereignty" of Pakistan.
To address these concerns, the publication said Islamabad would need stronger domestic safeguards alongside Chinese investment. It highlighted the need for strict data-localisation rules, robust personal-data legislation and domestic access to source code for systems linked to national security.
The report also stressed the importance of maintaining a diversified supplier base and investing substantially in Pakistan’s own research and development capabilities.
The changing nature of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC 2.0, is another important part of the issue.
While the first phase of CPEC was strongly associated with roads and energy infrastructure, its second phase has expanded into areas such as industrial development, agriculture and digital integration.
For Pakistan, the digital component could provide access to infrastructure and technologies that might otherwise require years of development and substantial domestic investment.
At the same time, deeper digital integration means that infrastructure such as fibre-optic networks, satellite links, servers, data centres and telecommunications equipment can become connected to broader questions about data governance and software ecosystems.
China’s wider Digital Silk Road strategy seeks to expand Chinese technological infrastructure, platforms and standards internationally. The report argued that Pakistan’s growing digital cooperation with China needs to be viewed in this wider context.
"Under this model, physical connectivity — fibre-optic cables, satellite links, servers, data centres and telecom equipment — becomes inseparable from questions of data governance, software ecosystems and long-term strategic influence," the report noted.
The central issue for Pakistan, therefore, is how to balance the immediate benefits of Chinese technology and investment with the longer-term need to retain control over critical digital infrastructure, protect data and maintain the ability to diversify its technology suppliers.
