Singapore is the only nation with a dedicated 'net link to China. And they've just agreed to expand its use

Four regions and provinces in China have announced they are joining an existing dedicated internet connectivity facility linking the Middle Kingdom and Singapore. Launched in September 2019, the China-Singapore (Chongqing) International Dedicated Connectivity (IDC) is the first point-to-point internet connectivity between …

[Adelio]

Trust

But can anyone trust China?

[imanidiot]

Re: Trust

No, but China is buying more and more influence in it's neighbouring countries and is kinda hard to ignore once they come with "offers"

[Pascal Monett]

Especially the type of offer you can't refuse . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

But at least at a Chinese tea party you can drink the tea...isn't that right...Russia.

[IGotOut]

Re: Trust

Can anyone trust anyone?

I mean the new planned Philippines link by pure coincidence, in no way related, just happens goes right past the massive military intelligence base.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Trust

Apparently China is gullible enough to trust Singapore.

They know all those US CDN networks are based in Singapore right?

CDNs that issue fake "checking browser" responses. Fake because they're not the website, they're a shim page delivered quickly as substitute content. And since routing is done based on responsiveness those shims skew the routing algos into thinking the IP address gets a quicker response from those CDNs, than from the real route.

So off the connection goes, across the CDN, where it has no business going, off to Kansas.

Every single fake routing I've seen has exited Asia at Singapore.

[LazLong]

Re: Trust

FT Meade isn't in Kansas, it's in Maryland.

[FuzzyTheBear]

One big cable ..

Hope it's one big cable that they can take a fireman's axe to ( conveniently supplied at various points along the line ) and cut the thing off at the right moment.

[Pascal Monett]

Re: One big cable ..

Why use an axe when you can just flick a switch.

Remotely.

[katrinab]

Doesn't North Korea also have a dedicated link to China? Internet is heavily restricted and monitored - by humans standing over your shoulder while you use it, but it does exist.

[doublelayer]

Yes. Although they also have a satellite connection for some people. Most people with computers use the internal intranet and don't have any access, which saves on the number of guards you have to put there.

[Nifty]

Every PC is NKinux, with digital tracking being added to every file as soon as it reaches the next computer.

[Kevin McMurtrie]

supporting bandwidth-intensive industries like...

Missed one: Brute-force attacks

[Anonymous Coward]

How can this possibly be "first"?

China can access the Internet, albeit with heavy filtering. Such access must have been achieved via connections between China and somewhere else. So what's so special about this new link to Singapore? How is it different from previous links used by China?

[I am David Jones]

Re: How can this possibly be "first"?

Simples. They installed a local copy of the Internet from one of those AOL disks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Much ado about nothing

China's many nefarious activities existed before this cable and would exist without this cable.

The cable is a recognition of China's status as the second largest economy in the world and the largest in the Eastern hemisphere.