How can a country which controls the flow of information within its borders and represses freedom of speech host the largest telecommunications exposition in the world? Despite the apparent contradiction, it's happening right now. The ITU Telecom World exposition, which took place in Hong Kong from Dec. 4 to Dec. 8, was the first to be held outside Geneva, Switzerland, since the convention was first held in 1971.
This location gives us a chance to consider several implications of its influence on the development of modern China.
International corporations review themselves and their operations based on their business interests. When faced with a totalitarian government, international corporations are always the first to make concessions for the sake of the large commercial interests that they represent. Before US and European condemnations of the massacre at Tiananmen Square in 1989 had even dissipated, businesses were already sneaking back into China.
The situation today hasn't improved.
International telecom and Internet companies like Yahoo and Microsoft have looked after their business interests by leaking users' personal information to the China Internet Network Information Center, one of the main departments under China's Ministry of the Information Industry. These divisions have coordinated with the police and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to monitor speech on the Internet and persecute Internet authors. Every international corporation that wants to enter the expanding Chinese market to produce, sell or trade must accede to the government's demands.
We must consider the effect that the information society could have on China's prospects for democratization. The plugged-in society created by telecommunications and the Internet has changed China's economic, cultural and political landscape. Statistics show that more than 700 million people have fixed and mobile telecommunications equipment and more than 100 million people are Internet users.
Observers have begun to expect that the information society will shake the foundation of the CCP's grip on power and possibly usher in a new era of Chinese democratization. But in reality, things aren't going so well. Just as information technology can be used as an effective means of mobilizing people for social movements and protests, Beijing can also use it as a new tool to consolidate its power.
China continues to be pulled apart by its politics and economic development. Beijing has continued to open up economically following the country's entry into the WTO, just as the exposition in Hong Kong proves that economic globalization has the power to change China. But politically its reform agenda has been stalled since the 1990s. Movies, publications, news and other broadcast media are still tightly examined and regulated, while all sensitive or political terms are blocked on the Internet. China has fallen 30 years behind Taiwan in terms of freedom of speech.
But there are always chinks in the government's armor through which people can find a channel to spread their voice.
There is great significance to China's hosting of the ITU expo. Two thousand years ago, China began construction of the Great Wall to prevent foreign nomadic peoples from invading China. Now, China is building "The Great Firewall" to prevent its people from knowing too much about democracy, human rights and other information that could jeopardize government control. The ITU expo brings with it business, capitalism and globalization. As China dashes madly to embrace them, there are many lingering questions that deserve our consideration.
Jackson Yeh is a freelance writer.
Translated by Marc Langer
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, people have been asking if Taiwan is the next Ukraine. At a G7 meeting of national leaders in January, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that Taiwan “could be the next Ukraine” if Chinese aggression is not checked. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that if Russia is not defeated, then “today, it’s Ukraine, tomorrow it can be Taiwan.” China does not like this rhetoric. Its diplomats ask people to stop saying “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow.” However, the rhetoric and stated ambition of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Taiwan shows strong parallels with