“All countries should step up communication and exchange, improve dialogue and consultation mechanism on cyberspace, and study and formulate global Internet governance rules, so that the global Internet governance system becomes more fair and reasonable and reflects in a more balanced way the aspiration and interests of the majority of countries”, he added.
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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.
Discussion of sovereignty over the Internet has always been a taboo, dismissed in Western media as violation of freedom.
China’s Xi also iterated a call for countries to work together on internet security, and he reportedly said that no country should pursue “cyber hegemony” or engage in activities that undermine others’ national security.
The time has come to drag the issue into the cold, hard light of day, and China, with an online population of 670 million – more than twice the entire population of the United States – and more than four million registered domains, has as much right as anyone to raise the debate.
The President said that as the innovation in cyberspace had resulted in commercial, economic, cultural, and social opportunities for users, Pakistan being a progressive nation fully endorsed the global vision of seamless connectivity across the world. He also called for a clarification of internet users’ “rights and duties”, and for stronger web ethics and moral guidance online.
China’s leader was speaking in Wuzhen at an event called the World Internet Conference, which sounds grand and did bring in delegates from leading technology companies including Apple and Microsoft, plus the Internet naming body ICANN.
“After the [exposure] of the US National Security Agency’s PRISM program, more countries have woken up to the fact that “absolute Internet freedom” touted by the US will only end up as “absolute security” in Washington and “absolute insecurity” for the rest”, it said.
Rights groups say any foreign tech firms involved in the conference are tacitly complicit in China’s online censorship.
Legally, it is accepted that countries have the right to set rules for Internet use.
“Cyberspace shouldn’t be a battlefield”, Xi said.
He said the principle of mutual respect and mutual trust held paramount importance in governance models particularly as they related to the Internet. As Lu Wei, the director of China’s Cyberspace Administration, put it in a press conference just before last year’s WIC, “Internet freedom requires strict order”.
A high-level advisory committee for the World Internet Conference’s (WIC) organizing committee secretariat was established on Wednesday, the organizing committee said Thursday.
Cyber sovereignty may sound pretty great, but opponents say it’s an opportunity for China to distract other countries from China’s Internet limitations.
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Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group, speaks at the sub forum themed “Internet Technology and Standards – Internet of Things Drives Industrial Transformation” in Wuzhen on Friday.
