China Touts Its Great Firewall in Push for Internet Control

China President Xi Jinping called for individual countries to have broad authority to regulate the Internet at home, outlining a digital future in which governments could set online standards and challenge the free flow of information and content across borders.

Speaking to an international audience at the kickoff of China’s second-annual World Internet Conference on Dec 16, President Xi promoted China’s vision for what it calls Internet sovereignty, meaning that others should respect a country’s right to regulate online activity as it sees fit. He also said no country should dominate cyberspace, a nod to China’s argument that the US has too much sway over how the Internet is run. “We should respect the right of individual countries to independently choose their own path of cyber development, model of cyber regulation, and participate in international cyberspace governance on an equal footing,” he said. “No country should pursue cyber hegemony, interfere in other countries’ internal affairs or engage in, connive at or support cyber activities that undermine other countries’ national security.”