China’s Xi Defends Web Controls in Call for ‘Cybersovereignty’

But with United States democracy watchdog Freedom House reporting that China had the most restrictive Internet policies of 65 countries studied, below Cuba, Iran and Syria, human rights campaigners have called for a total boycott of the conference.

“Each country should join hands and together curb the abuse of information technology, oppose network surveillance and hacking, and fight against a cyberspace arms race”, Xi told China’s second World Internet Conference.

“The robust growth of China’s Internet has provided a big market for enterprises and business starters of all countries”, Xi said.

His message is the fact that China, with 650 million web users, should have a say in drawing up the rules that are worldwide and they need to range from the right to choose what to censor and block, our correspondent adds.

At the same time, however, the Chinese president also defended his country’s restrictive Internet censorship laws – the so-called “Great Firewall” that aims to keep residents from accessing certain websites – as being an indispensable implement needed for national security’s sake.

And while Xi also spoke about Internet freedom being a priority for China’s citizens, his words seem contradictory for a country that can jail citizens for posting something against the government online.

Xi made the remarks in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Second World Internet Conference held in the town of Wuzhen, in east China’s Zhejiang Province.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) talks with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (R) as China’s Internet czar Lu Wei looks on in this September 23, 2015 photo.

“Each country has its own right to deploy Internet services….”

The sub-forum, the first one to lay eyes on governance, aims at sharing different countries’ experiences and practices in governing the Internet. Rights groups say it uses state security as a pretext to crack down on political dissent. China’s new national security law and draft internet law stipulate tightened rules for foreign web companies operating in China, insisting that their servers must be located inside China and they must allow Chinese authorities to inspect their facilities.

Policymakers in China have been encouraging traditional industry to integrate with Internet technology to expand, a strategy dubbed “Internet Plus”, which Ma sees as very promising.

The conference includes guests from 120 countries and various tech companies.

China attaches great importance to Internet development, he added.

In his speech, Xi denounced “Internet hegemony” and “foreign interference in internal affairs” through cyber means, and dismissed the concept of “absolute freedom” in cyberspace.