Xi Jinping calls for ‘united front’ to control cyberspace

China’s growing global influence was highlighted by the fact that many major technology companies – including Microsoft, LinkedIn and Facebook (which is blocked in China but has been seeking to improve its relations with the government) – sent representatives to the conference.

China infamously operates a “Great Firewall”, the world’s most sophisticated online censorship system which blocks – and, as of this year, also attacks – Internet services the government deems unsavoury. He urged the countries to shed the practice of “double standards” especially in the case of upholding cyber security and said, “We can not just have the security of one or some countries while leaving the rest insecure and countries should not seek the so-called absolute security of itself at the expense of the security of others”.

The country has about 650 million internet users but has been classified as the most censored country in the world by the Washington-based NGO Freedom House.

“International cyberspace governance should promote a multilateral approach”, he said.

Domestic internet governance has been increasingly centralised in China since President Xi came to power in 2013.

A high-level advisory committee for the World Internet Conference’s (WIC) organizing committee secretariat was established on Wednesday, the organizing committee said Thursday. But since Xi took the reins in late 2012, Beijing has more and more boasted of its censorship prowess, most frequently underneath the banner of “cybersovereignty” – which means the suitable of a nationwide authorities to regulate the knowledge that flows throughout its borders.

Like the real world, cyberspace, with about 3.2 billion users worldwide, should be a domain of freedom and order.

“No country should interfere in other countries internal affairs or support activities… that undermine other countries’ national security”, Xi said.

China attaches great importance to internet development, he added.

The conference is organized by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province, and only appears to include heads of state from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

He said Pakistan supported China in holding this important conference and would continue to coordinate its policies with China in an effort to build a cyberspace community of shared destiny.

Google, for example, violated a written promise made when entering the Chinese market by not filtering its search services and then blaming China by insinuation for alleged hacker attacks.

China’s emphasis on keeping “order” in cyberspace translates to censorship, whether it’s blocking foreign websites (from Facebook and Twitter to the New York Times) or deleting social media posts by Chinese citizens and punishing people for “spreading rumors” online. A broad slate of cybersecurity laws the country passed earlier this spring require all technologies – including those belonging to foreign firms – to be “secure and controllable”.

He also said no country should dominate cyberspace, a nod to China’s argument that the U.S. has too much sway over how the internet is run.

Those efforts are aimed at maintaining stability, a lack of which the Communist Party sees as a direct threat to its rule.