Five years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping revived the ancient Silk Road with the Belt and Road Initiative. Last year, he gave it a digital dimension as he proposed the Digital Silk Road, which will encompass quantum computing, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, big data and cloud storage, among others.

The idea of incorporating digital sectors like telecommunications, internet of things and e-commerce into the Belt and Road Initiative is not new. And China already has its home-grown satellite-navigation system, the Beidou satellite network.

For the satellite-navigation system, alternatives to GPS like Beidou from China and Galileo from the European Union are capable of introducing market competition to this sector. 

As users obtaining their own positioning information, they are also providing their location the service provider, and is subject to the availability of such service at service providers' will, Mr. Zhang Huateng, an international strategist from Beijing Commsat, told CGTN that with more competing services, every service provider would improve their reliability, and forcibly combining less political collateral liabilities to the end users, like African countries.

He also gave an example, saying normal operations may seem to be "undesirable" in GPS providers' eyes, hence your access to the service may be cut off. That will be an entirely different story if you have other choices.

Mr. Zhang said supporting industries for navigation services are huge. While such industry is already well-developed for GPS, but not yet for Beidou and Galileo. The new business can be established in the Belt and Road countries, for example, Beidou navigation services are not just supporting GPS. This creates new market niches and opens an opportunity for cheaper solutions of navigation devices since most of GPS-related IPs are in US companies.

Overall, having Beidou means higher reliability for all services and better access to navigation services for the Belt and Road countries, while new market opportunities for all competitors of device and enhancement service providers, said Mr. Zhang.

Meanwhile, Chinese companies like ZTE and Huawei have expanded their efforts to supply smart city projects in countries like Malaysia, Kenya, and Germany, in promoting the building of the Digital Silk Road. But they are still facing some challenges in building a community with a shared future in cyberspace.

Cost and information security are the two major challenges, said Mr. Zhang. In different countries, the primary considerations of building smart cities may vary based on their unique geographical conditions and socioeconomic status. 

On the side of the construction of relevant infrastructures, developing countries like Malaysia and Kenya may have signed a contract with ZTE or Huawei due to their low-cost and high efficiency compared to their Euramerican competitors, but we cannot say it is the same in Germany's case.

Mr. Zhang said the exposure of Prism project within the US government had urged European and other developed countries to put traditional western coalitions under careful scrutiny. In the current world, one shall always choose the partner in cooperations independently and autonomously, no matter for business or political cooperations.

Thus, when realizing a project such as smart cities, picking capable partners who can do the work more efficiently with lower cost, as well as the best solution to ensure information security is the challenge faced by every country.

He added that ZTE and Huawei have demonstrated their capabilities in solving this problem to governments of Malaysia, Kenya and Germany. In recent years, satellites, especially constellations in low orbit, have demonstrated their cost reductive potential and better information security in offering Machine-To-Machine, and the Internet of things solutions, which are key to smart cities, especially ones with laser communication functions to avoid radio signal interception. 

In the future, such applications may also expand to wideband internet connections.