Safe and smart city in Kyrgyzstan: Exporting Chinese digital authoritarianism or enhancing people's safety and well-being?

Analysts are increasingly alarmed about China's activities, such as technology exports, that support the promotion of its governance model worldwide. Among these voices, this article maps the implementation of Safe and Smart City (SSC) projects in Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan. The objective is to determine the extent to which SSC projects – with a primary focus on their surveillance camera networks – may strengthen the Kyrgyz government's surveillance capabilities and pose threats (understood as further limitations on individual freedoms) to citizens. The paper also examines whether SSC projects should be seen as China's economic projects and whether Beijing might use the construction of surveillance infrastructure in Kyrgyzstan to promote its model of digital authoritarianism. The article's argument is threefold. First, Safe City (and Safe Country) may support the surveillance capabilities of the Kyrgyz authorities, but it is not at their core. Second, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that China's involvement in SSC implementation in Kyrgyzstan is direct or substantial; it is softer and harder to map. Third, in their attempts to discover technology-related threats in non-liberal-democratic contexts, scholars could shift their focus from projects to institutions. Instead of examining particular projects (e.g., Smart City), scrutiny of various initiatives involving surveillance equipment developed by one state organ might be more informative. Such analyses could enable more accurate examinations of the threats inherent in tech-related solutions involving international cooperation and prompt reflection on the extent to which new technological solutions might support state control over citizens or enhance human flourishing in various political contexts.