中國計劃在廣州建立第一個“自由數據港”，因為北京著眼於全面控制跨境信息流動

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

China plans its first 'free data port' in Guangzhou as Beijing eyes total control over cross-border information flows

South China Morning Post

Sat, January 8, 2022, 1:30 AM

China is building its first "free trade port for data" with an investment of 31.8 billion yuan (US$5 billion) in Nansha, Guangzhou city as part of the country's efforts to build up controllable cross-border information flows, according to state media outlet Nanfang Daily on Friday.

The Nansha International Data Free Trade Port, identified as a key digital infrastructure project by local and state governments last year, will be the country's trial project for cross-border data transfer, powered by a global network of undersea cables planned for the district, according to the report.

Apart from the undersea cable network, the project will also include a cross-border data centre, industrial parks for big data and labs for telecommunications for the Greater Bay Area, with the aim of supporting cross-border trade, offshore finance, and artificial intelligence industries among others. The Greater Bay Area covers Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities in southern Guangdong province.

Apple blocks mainland Chinese geographic data on its Compass app

The project is expected to play an important role in future data exchanges between China and the outside world. Hong Kong is traditionally a data centre hub for many multinational companies, which have historically put servers in the city to run data gathered from mainland operations. However, China's rigid control of data flows and recent changes in regulations including mandatory local storage of sensitive data, is bringing change to this practice.

The local authority of Nansha district signed partnership deals on Thursday with digital infrastructure company China Aviation Cloud and several banks to start building the 450-acre data port, which is expected to be put into operation by 2025.

Nansha wants to become a data transfer hub in the Greater Bay Area and is aggressively building up data facilities with two data centres completed on Thursday. Spending on data facilities has been encouraged by Beijing as it seeks to build up digital infrastructure investment.

China's Weibo fined by regulator for allowing 'forbidden' posts

China has tightened control over cross-border data flows, with the Data Security Law (DSL) rolled out in September, and the Personal Information Protection Law taking effect on November 1. Both impose tough penalties for the unauthorized collection, processing, storage and use of data generated in the country.

Translation

據官方媒體南方日報週五報導，中國正在廣州市南沙投資 318 億元人民幣（50 億美元）建設首個“數據自由貿易港”，作為該國建立可控跨境信息流的一部分。。

根據報告, 去年被地方和州政府確定為重點數字基礎設施項目的南沙國際數據自由貿易港將成為該國跨境數據傳輸的試點項目，由規劃给該地區的全球海底電纜網絡提供支持。。

除海底光纜網絡外，該項目還將為大灣區建設跨境數據中心、大數據產業園和電信實驗室，以支持跨境貿易、離岸金融和人工智能。行業等。大灣區涵蓋香港、澳門和廣東省南部的九個內地城市。

蘋果在其 Compass 應用程序中屏蔽了中國大陸的地理數據

該項目有望在未來中國與外界的數據交流中發揮重要作用。香港傳統上是許多跨國公司的數據中心樞紐，這些公司歷來在香港放置服務器來運行從大陸業務收集的數據。然而，中國對數據流的嚴格控制以及近期法規的變化, 包括敏感數據的強製本地存儲,正在改變這種做法。

南沙區地方當局週四與數字基礎設施公司中航雲 (China Aviation Cloud) 和幾家銀行簽署了合作協議，開始建設佔地450英畝的數據港，預計將於2025年投入運營。

南沙希望成為大灣區的數據傳輸樞紐，並正在積極建設數據設施，週四完成了兩個數據中心。在尋求建立數字基礎設施投資的過程中，北京一直鼓勵花费在進行數據設施上的開支。

中國微博因准許“被禁止”發帖而被監管機構罰款

中國加強了對跨境數據流動的管控，9月出台了《數據安全法》（DSL），11月1日起實施了《個人信息保護法》。兩者都對國內產生的數據的未經授權收集、處理、存儲和使用進行了嚴厲處罰。

So, China is building its first "free trade port for data" in Nansha of Guangzhou city as part of the country's efforts to build up controllable cross-border information flows.  It has also tightened control over cross-border data flows through its Data Security Law (DSL), and also the Personal Information Protection Law.