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China

The Influence of the Chinese Internet

<p>Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder Jack Ma greets traders at the New York Stock Exchange as he celebrates the company&#8217;s initial public offering (IPO) under the ticker &#8220;BABA&#8221;, in New York on September 19, 2014. (Lucas Jackson/Courtesy Reuters)</p>
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder Jack Ma greets traders at the New York Stock Exchange as he celebrates the company’s initial public offering (IPO) under the ticker “BABA”, in New York on September 19, 2014. (Lucas Jackson/Courtesy Reuters)

By experts and staff

Published
  • Adam SegalCFR Expert
    Ira A. Lipman Chair in Emerging Technologies and National Security and Director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program

The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released its 2014 statistical report on Internet development in China, and here are some of the highlights:

The report, which also has some interesting details on online commerce, gaming, and videos, should be read in parallel with this great post by David Bandurski on the ideas of Lu Wei, China’s Internet czar. Much of the discussion focuses on the balance among control, development, and security the Chinese Communist Party tries to achieve domestically, but Bandurski also notes that China is becoming more assertive about its right to define international norms of behavior in cyberspace. A new platform for this will be the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, but the most likely source of  influence be size. Or as Bandurski explains, “China, in other words, wants the influence over global Internet-related decision making that its sheer size warrants.” The CNNIC report gives a sense of that size, and how the size, and perhaps influence, will increase over time.