In July 2016, China released the outline of a national IT development strategy promoting IT development in the Belt and Road Initiative, organizing the building of a submarine optical cable and cross-border land optical cable, in order to improve connectivity and build an "online Silk Road." China has started cooperation with other parties to build the China-Central Asia information platform, China-ASEAN information port and China- Arabia online Silk Road.
In short, the Belt and Road Initiative includes projects in energy, infrastructure, industrial capacity cooperation, culture, education, standards and people-to-people exchange. The initiative aims to connect all parties in terms of strategies, plans, projects, intelligence, media and actions.