Prefiguring China’s digital silk road to Europe: connecting Switzerland

Abstract

Through the lens of “politics of sight”, this chapter provides on-the-ground perspectives on a crucial yet commonly overlooked aspect of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): the Digital Silk Road (DSR). Drawing on ethnographic and archival research focused on digital infrastructures, specifically fiber-optic networks, I trace China’s DSR to Europe through the example of Switzerland. To comprehend the effects of digitalization in Switzerland and globally requires considering Chinese involvements in digital infrastructures. I argue that although discursive references linking Switzerland to the DSR are recent and Western observers are only now beginning to “see” Chinese fiber-optic networks, what is currently framed as part of the DSR began long before the announcement of the BRI. Moreover, the Chinese–Swiss entanglements in digital infrastructures are not as unidirectional as is often assumed. Overall, the DSR is better characterized as a series of multinational investments rather than as a cohesive, top-down geopolitical strategy.