SPEAKING
FREELY Beijing ahead in the Internet
game By Tamara Renee Shie
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
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The Internet, long
proclaimed a conduit for democratization, is
meeting its match in China. While Western
libertarians believe China is fighting a losing
battle as protestors and dissidents increasingly
organize online, the Chinese leadership is betting
its dual strategy of censorship and development
will ultimately succeed.
The Internet
provides an unprecedented ability to create,
access and exchange information. Unlike other mass
communication mediums, cyberspace allows for the
multi-directional and (theoretically) borderless
free flow of information. These characteristics
imply that it cannot be controlled like
traditional forms of media. Or can it?
Technological libertarians maintain that
autocratic leaders face a zero-sum dilemma:
embrace information
technology and sacrifice
political power, or suppress it and pay the
economic price.
The Chinese leadership,
however, appears undeterred. From modest
beginnings of about 2,000 Internet users in 1993,
the number has surged to more than 94 million in
2005, the second-largest population online after
the United States. China also boasts the world's
largest number of mobile phone subscribers, the
second-largest personal computer market and the
third-largest number of personal computer users.
Contrary to popular thinking, Chinese
leaders do not need to block all Internet content
in order to reap major economic and political
benefits.
An OpenNet Initiative report on
Chinese Internet filtering revealed a
sophisticated system of control combining
technological checks and social persuasion. Access
to some websites is intermittently blocked while
others may be accessible but filter certain
keyword searches. Provincial and local governments
hire employees to scan e-mail and chat rooms for
sensitive discussions.
Self-censorship is
"encouraged" with myriad regulations placing
responsibility on the user, from Internet content
(ICPs) and Internet service providers (ISPs),
cybercafes and website creators, down to the
individual subscriber. Businesses are pressured to
endorse a self-regulation pledge. Even foreign
companies like Yahoo! have signed in order to gain
access to China's burgeoning IT market.
China's experiment in Internet management
is literally paying off. Information technology is
driving China's development - from military
modernization to domestic business competitiveness
on a global scale. E-commerce is exploding in
China; it's expected to reach $6.5 billion by
2007.
The political advantages may be even
greater. On one hand, e-government is improving
the efficiency and effectiveness of central
administration. On the other, the Internet may be
used to promote the party line. In July, to
counter the Pentagon's report on the People's
Liberation Army, the Chinese government posted a
censored version of the document and organized
online chats with military analysts.
Nationalistic sentiments have also found
voice online during such incidents as the 1999
North Atlantic Treaty Organization bombing of the
Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and the anti-Japanese
demonstrations in April. Such protests can divert
attention from thorny domestic issues. Some
potentially damaging local news stories circulated
online have forced the central government to be
more forthright with information - often with
positive results.
From greater access to
educational and cultural cyber content, to online
dating, chatting, shopping and games, the Chinese
are enamored with the Internet. Few want to chance
participation in politically risky behavior such
as browsing dissident websites or posting
controversial messages in chat rooms. A study
funded by the New York City-based Markle
Foundation found a majority of respondents said
when the Internet provides more opportunities for
citizens to criticize government policies, they
trusted online content, and supported some
Internet restrictions.
So far the Chinese
government is staying one step ahead of the game.
China Telecom has enlisted China's Huawei
Technologies, US companies Cisco Systems and
Juniper Networks, France's Alcatel and Sweden's
Ericsson to upgrade its backbone network ChinaNet,
the country's largest and most extensive. Called
the ChinaNet Next Carrying Network or CN2, the
system will connect more than 200 cities with
China's international access network, further
establishing domestic mechanisms of control.
China is not alone. Although the Internet
developed without much regulation, governments
around the world are adapting and cyberspace
monitoring is increasing.
Singapore
implemented the world's first Internet censorship
regulations in 1995. Now China is serving as an
archetype for other countries that wish to
restrict online usage while reaping its benefits.
From Australia to Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia to
Vietnam, governments have been establishing more
Internet controls.
OpenNet Initiative
studies have revealed infrastructure and
regulations akin to China's in place in countries
such as Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain
and Kyrgyzstan. Utah recently passed a filtering
law targeting content harmful to minors.
Not all filtering and surveillance is
inappropriate, but it does raise questions over
the fine line between legitimate and illegitimate
controls. Consider e-mail authentification
programs currently under development in the US.
Ostensibly being created to combat spam, they will
permit the identification and tracking of e-mail
senders. How might China and other like-minded
governments adapt such technology?
China's
experience challenges the view that the Internet
is an irrepressible instrument for democracy. Yet
while the Chinese government is successfully
harnessing information technology to maintain its
political monopoly, the Internet is also
contributing to China's political transformation.
It remains a positive force for economic
development, improved quality of life and better
governance.
Tamara Renee Shie,
Institute for National Strategic Studies, National
Defense University. Author of: "The Tangled Web:
Does the Internet Offer Promise or Peril for the
Chinese Communist Party?" Journal of Contemporary
China 13, 40 (August 2004), PP. 523-540. The
opinions expressed in this piece are those of the
author alone and do not reflect NDU, Department of
Defense, or US government policy.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click hereif you are interested in
contributing.
(Copyright 2005 Asia
Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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