Xi underscores cyber sovereignty

The cyberspace governance has progressed in big stride worldwide in the past year under the coherent efforts of global communities, said a Chinese network information official at a sub forum during the 2nd World Internet Conference in Wuzhen on Friday.

Xi was in effect asserting sovereign rights in cyberspace to justify China’s increasing control, recently underlined by the trial of outspoken human-rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang for allegedly inciting ethnic hatred and “provoking trouble” with microblogs critical of the Communist Party.

“China’s experience in developing the Internet industry and methods to increase the Internet penetration rate are valuable assets for the world in building a better connected Web”, he said.

Prime ministers Dmitry Medvedev of Russian Federation and Karim Massimov of Kazakhstan, whose nations are members of the regional Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, also were there.

“Countries have the right to independently choose their own path of cyber development and model of cyber regulations”, the Chinese President said in an apparent defence to criticism over the ban of worldwide social outlets like Twitter and Facebook in the country.

On Wednesday, Xi referred to as for cooperation to struggle crime and terrorism on-line. China’s stepped up controls come at a time the country’s internet economy is booming, the number of users surpassing 600 million and growing.

“Cyberspace shouldn’t be a battlefield”, Xi said. Once the environment improves, Ma said, the content industry will have huge growth potential.

The concept of cyber sovereignty bears clear echoes of China’s other security policies that aim to repress free speech – it’s based on a national security prerogative to uphold Chinese Communist Party rule at all costs, and justified by pointing to phantoms of Western “interference” with the aim of casting China into chaos.

The World Internet Conference attracted executives from Chinese and U.S. tech giants. “While respecting internet users’ rights to exchange ideas and express views, efforts should be made to build a sound cyberspace order under law”.

“Tech companies, including Apple, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Microsoft, must be prepared to say “no” to China’s repressive Internet regime and put people and principles before profits”, Rife said. Rights groups say it uses state security as a pretext to crack down on political dissent. However, the organizers do not appear to have repeated last year’s attempt to get diplomats to sign a protocol on the internet, stressing respect for each other’s sovereignty.

The second World Internet Conference opened in Wuzhen, China on December 16.

Speaking to reporters last week, the head of the Cyberspace Administration of China, Lu Wei said that China does not censor the Internet, it regulates it.

The end goal of this tactic is, according to Franz-Stefan Gady of the East West Institute, to “gain de jure worldwide support for China’s de facto Internet censorship policies”.