{"id":36392,"date":"2017-12-15T11:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T00:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=36392"},"modified":"2017-12-15T10:24:17","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T23:24:17","slug":"money-talks-in-chinas-cloistered-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/money-talks-in-chinas-cloistered-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"Money talks in China\u2019s cloistered internet"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

China\u2019s ambition to shape the future of the internet received a helpful boost last week, courtesy of the CEOs and top executives from the most influential companies on the planet, including Apple, Google and Facebook.<\/span><\/p>\n

The US tech execs were among the delegates at the highly choreographed World Internet Conference, held in the city of Wuzhen in East China. Their attendance was a coup for Beijing\u2019s censors and won new legitimacy for their vision for the internet in which nation-states are able to wall themselves off from the rest of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

China\u2019s famously sardonic social media users were quick to heap scorn on the event, competing to rename it with a more fitting title. Suggestions included the \u2018Beggars Conference\u2019, \u2018World 404 Conference\u2019, \u2018World LAN Conference\u2019 and \u2018World Satire Conference\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beijing\u2019s zealous censors pounced, ordering the gags to be scrubbed from websites inside the \u2018great firewall\u2019\u2014a fact we know<\/span> thanks to a leaked circular<\/span><\/a> published online by the US-based <\/span>China Digital Times<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fitting example of how Beijing\u2019s vision for the internet works in practice. While dissenting voices are censored, those that parrot the official line are amplified.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018The theme of this conference\u2014developing a digital economy for openness and shared benefits\u2014is a vision we at Apple share\u2019, Apple\u2019s Tim Cook said in remarks that were<\/span> gleefully reprinted<\/span><\/a> by Chinese state media. \u2018We are proud to have worked alongside many of our partners in China to help build a community that will join a common future in cyberspace.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

One headline on the fiercely nationalistic rag the <\/span>Global Times<\/span><\/i> claimed<\/span><\/a>, with its customary chutzpah, \u2018Chinese Net remains open\u2019. Another<\/span> read<\/span><\/a>, \u2018Consensus grows at Internet conference\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ironically, Apple removed hundreds of VPN apps from its download store in China at the government\u2019s request earlier this year. But for the tech giant, the moral calculation is easy when you look at the numbers. Speaking at the conference on Sunday, Cook said that Apple\u2019s App Store has earned nearly $17 billion for 1.8 million Chinese developers, who together account for about one-quarter of all developers\u2019 revenue through the store.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chinese market is proving to be alluring in new ways. As new technological fields like AI open up, the country seems at a unique advantage due to its huge population and a lack of concern about privacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s enough to have even Google\u2014which famously retreated from the mainland Chinese market in 2010 on a matter of principle after it declined to censor its results\u2014<\/span>outlining big plans<\/span><\/a> to return to the market in a big way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma offered a blunt warning to the Western tech companies that have been agonising over how to engage with the Chinese market. \u2018People complain too much\u2019,<\/span> he said at Wuzhen<\/span><\/a>. \u2018[Foreign companies] are determined to come. Follow the rules and laws and if you’re unhappy, leave\u2019,<\/span> he added<\/span><\/a>. \u2018This is not a market [where] you can come and go.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Beijing has been making slow, steady gains in promoting its vision for the internet, which it has dubbed \u2018cyber sovereignty\u2019 in multiple forums. The strategy came into sharper focus at Wuzhen after<\/span> the government unveiled<\/span><\/a> its plans for a \u2018Digital Silk Road\u2019 that would run along the Belt and Road Initiative. The developing world, in particular, is being wired by China, making the<\/span> prospect of a global \u2018Splinternet\u2019<\/span><\/a> a worrying possibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018China stands ready to develop new rules and systems of internet governance to serve all parties and counteract current imbalances\u2019, Wang Huning, a member of China\u2019s top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee, told an audience at Wuzhen that included Cook and Ma.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Wang didn\u2019t shy away from spruiking the government\u2019s concept of \u2018cyber sovereignty\u2019, it was the delegates to the PLA\u2019s Cyberspace Strategy Forum\u2014held in Beijing a week before the Wuzhen conference, and to an entirely local audience\u2014who put it more bluntly.<\/span><\/p>\n

At that event, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations\u2019<\/span> Zhao Chen spoke<\/span><\/a> about the spirit of \u2018deepening comprehensive governance, widening the road to an Internet powerhouse\u2019, and quoted Xi Jinping:<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently, the rivalry among major powers in cybersecurity is not just one for technology, but rivalry for ideology, for the power of discourse \u2026 We should safeguard our cyberspace sovereignty with righteousness, and make our voice loud and clear.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For the Chinese government, cybersecurity isn\u2019t only about hackers and cybercrime; it\u2019s about \u2018information security\u2019\u2014code for ensuring liberal foreign ideas like democracy and the separation of powers don\u2019t gain a foothold inside the middle kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

As with each previous Wuzhen conference, the internet blocks on Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter were removed for the benefit of the international visitors. Perhaps next year Beijing will be confident enough to leave them blocked and let its visitors experience what \u2018cyber sovereignty\u2019 means in practice.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s ambition to shape the future of the internet received a helpful boost last week, courtesy of the CEOs and top executives from the most influential companies on the planet, including Apple, Google and Facebook. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":714,"featured_media":36397,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[748,52,95],"class_list":["post-36392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-censorship","tag-china","tag-cyber-security"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMoney talks in China\u2019s cloistered internet | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/money-talks-in-chinas-cloistered-internet\/\" \/>\n<meta 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