New | China to strive for greater clout on the internet through global governance system

As an emerging internet power, China will take on bigger responsibilities and push for new rules in the cybersphere, the mainland’s internet tsar said at the close of the World Internet Conference on Friday.

In his closing speech at the event in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, Lu Wei, head of the Cyberspace Administration of China, said Beijing would promote the building of internet infrastructure, step up innovation in the internet economy, and create a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace.

Lu also repeated Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call at the opening of the conference for a global internet governance system.

Xi had said “existing rules governing cyberspace hardly reflect the desires and interests of the majority of countries”.

Internet sovereignty – the right for a state to choose its development path, extent of regulation and online policies – should be respected, Xi said, adding that regulation was necessary to maintain order on the internet.

China boasts the biggest number of internet users – 668 million people. It also has one of the world’s harshest internet censorship systems, blocking many social media and news sites.

Jack Ma Yun, founder of internet giant Alibaba Group, echoed Xi’s views on online regulation.