China set to launch an 'unhackable' internet communication

The technology it has turned to is quantum cryptography, a radical break from the traditional encryption methods around. The Chinese project in the city of Jinan has been touted as a milestone by state media.

The pioneering project is also part of a bigger story: China is taking the lead in a technology in which the West has long been hesitant to invest. In the Jinan network, some 200 users from the military, government, finance and electricity sectors will be able to send messages safe in the knowledge that only they are reading them.

If you want to send your secure message, you first separately send a key embedded in particles of light. The crucial advantage of this so-called quantum key distribution is that if anyone tries to intercept the light particles, they necessarily alter or destroy them. What this means is that any attempt at hacking will immediately be noticed by the original sender and the intended receiver - hence its description as "unhackable".