TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Cambodia’s government is poised to roll out an internet gateway in the style of China’s ‘Great Firewall’ that will give it greater control over the country’s internet.

Though Phnom Penh says the National Internet Gateway (NIG) will shore up national security, tax collection, “social order, culture and national tradition,” human rights groups claim it will enable the government to better censor and surveil the population, according to a Guardian report.

With the pro-China Hun Sen regime having banned opposition parties, suppressed protests, and dismantled independent media outlets, cyberspace remains one of the last safe spaces for debate in Cambodia. Yet with the incoming NIG, which UN experts have condemned as repressive, the sun is setting on Cambodia’s online haven for political plurality.

Once installed in the coming days, Cambodian internet service providers will have to reroute traffic through the NIG gateway. This will enable interception of online communications and collection of personal information, according to human rights experts cited by the Guardian.

Some experts say the NIG violates Cambodia’s constitution as well as several international treaties the country has signed on to. Others claim it will slow down internet speeds, which could not only affect user experience but drag down e-commerce and inward investment.