China’s ambitions to tighten up regulation of the Internet have found a second wind in old fears — terrorism and fake news.
Chinese officials and business leaders speaking at the third World Internet Conference held in Wuzhen, China, last week called for more rigid cybergovernance, pointing to the ability of militants to organize online and the spread of false news items during the recent US election as signs cyberspace had become dangerous and unwieldy.
Ren Xianling (任賢良), the vice minister of China’s top Internet authority, on Thursday said that the process was akin to “installing brakes on a car before driving on the road.”
Ren, No. 2 at the Cyberspace Administration of China, recommended using identification systems for netizens who post fake news and rumors, so they could “reward and punish” them.
The comments come as US social networks Facebook and Twitter face a backlash over their role in the spread of false and malicious information generated by users, which some say helped sway the US presidential election in favor of Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Over the past year, China has formalized a series of Internet controls, including a controversial cybersecurity law passed earlier this month, rules that overseas business groups say could block foreign firms from the market.
However, some fear such controls could hinder the growth and innovation that is boosting Chinese influence in global tech.
The Wuzhen conference, held annually in the picturesque town outside Shanghai, gave a glimpse of China’s tougher new stance; in past years attendees were given unfettered access to Web sites normally blocked by China’s “Great Firewall,” including Google and Facebook, but not this year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday addressed the conference in a short video speech, repeating calls to respect “cybersovereignty” — the imposition of government controls over cyberspace within China’s borders.
Cybersovereignty is seen as a direct challenge to the US-led view, which encourages nongovernment stakeholders to take the lead in governing specific Internet industries.
China’s new cyber law, which comes into effect in June next year, has sparked concerns of heavy-handed surveillance and local data storage requirements.
China’s Internet regulator says the law does not target foreign firms and is designed to mitigate cyberterrorism threats to “critical infrastructure.”
China’s top tech firms rallied behind Beijing at the event, lending support for the recent cybersecurity regulations and pointing to the role of social media in Trump’s election as a cautionary tale in the fight against fake news.
Ma Huateng (馬化騰), the chairman and chief executive of Tencent Holdings, which oversees China’s most popular social networking app, WeChat, said Trump’s win sent an “alarm” to the global community about the dangers of fake news, a view echoed by other executives at the event.
Trump’s popularity “reinforces wariness about how much freedom should be allowed in the use of the Internet in China,” said Yuan Jingdong (袁勁東), an associate professor at Sydney University specializing in Asia-Pacific Security.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia