By Shannon Tiezzi
Xi Jinping doubles down on the controversial concept at the 2nd World Internet Conference.
The second World Internet Conference opened in Wuzhen, China on December 16. Last year’s inaugural WIC focused heavily on promoting Beijing’s vision for global internet governance, based on the idea of internet sovereignty. This year, China made that message even more clear, as exemplified by the headline of a Xinhua commentary: “China allows no compromise on cyberspace sovereignty.”
As a sign of how seriously Beijing takes the still-young WIC, Chinese President Xi Jinping himself attended and made opening remarks. In his speech, Xi emphasized the primacy of internet sovereignty (now being translated by Chinese media as “cyber sovereignty,” which gives the term a broader connotation). He tied the concept to the “principle of sovereign equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations,” saying that sovereignty “covers all aspects of state-to-state relations, which also includes cyberspace.”
“We should respect the right of individual countries to independently choose their own path of cyber development and model of cyber regulation and participate in international cyberspace governance on an equal footing,” Xinhua cited Xi as saying.
Speaking of cyber governance, Xi gave the current system poor marks, saying it doesn’t “reflect the desire and interests of the majority of countries.” China’s own vision for cyber governance is clear: allow each country the right to govern cyberspace for its own citizens (the core of cyber sovereignty). That directly contradicts the current prevailing view of cyberspace as a sort of global commons.
Read the full story at The Diplomat