Rights campaigners have condemned the World Internet Conference, part of China’s push to sell its idea of “internet sovereignty”, a concept that stands at odds with a vision of the Internet as an open global commons.
Advertisement
Mr Xi said states had the right to select control and the best way to develop their web.
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.
“We should respect every country’s own choice of their Internet development path and management model, their Internet public policy and the right to participate in managing global cyberspace”, Xi said.
“But national security concerns could deter countries from cooperating and pose a challenge for China in pushing for the treaty despite the pressing need”, said Ms Kam.
The Chinese president criticized hacking for commercial espionage and against government networks – activities the US has accused China of sponsoring in the past – though he also said there should be no double standards in such areas.
The allure of that mass has ensured foreign firms, like USA tech giants Google Inc and Facebook Inc, remain eager to break into the market and attempt to turn a profit from China’s Internet users.
Chinese citizens should have the right to speak their minds on the internet, president Xi Jinping has claimed, just two days after a prominent free speech advocate was put on trial for sending seven tweets.
China operates one of the world’s toughest online censorship and control systems, nicknamed the “Great Firewall of China” by some.
The state is also known to pay armies of people, known colloquially as the “50 Cent Party”, to post pro-government messages and drown out negative commentary on bulletin boards and in the comments sections of news articles.
“Under the guise of sovereignty and security, the Chinese authorities are trying to rewrite the rules of the Internet so censorship and surveillance become the norm everywhere”, said the group’s East Asia research director, Roseann Rife, in a statement. He was speaking before an audience that included leaders of Central Asian nations, cyberspace experts from around the world and a collection of China’s top technology-company executives.
“International cyberspace governance should promote a multilateral approach”, he said.
That’s why Xi called for a reform of global cyberspace governance to one that features a multilateral approach with multi-party participation rather than “one party calling the shots”.
“Freedom is the aim of order, order is the guarantor of freedom”, he said. Last year, American prosecutors charged five Chinese military officers with stealing secrets from United States companies.
Internet infrastructure, including cloud computing and big data, is the cornerstone of smart technologies, said Zhang.
Advertisement
As of July 2015, the number of Internet users had reached 668 million, the most in the world, according to official figures.
