The U.S. is defending freedom on the internet. Amid allegations of cyberattacks on an American company, Secretary of State Clinton gave a speech encouraging China to respect the free flow of information on the net:
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The full text can be found here and the full video here. China reacted angrily, denied participating in the attacks, and defended censorship and other restrictions they place on U.S. companies operating in China. Today, Bill Gates weighed in and added his voice to those assessing the situation. Meanwhile, in China, it appears that the issue has become sensationalized, with state media alleging an American conspiracy.
In my day job with an international academic association I’ve worked with Chinese scholars and assisted them in trying to gain access to academic information located on servers in the U.S., sites blocked on their end by the so-called “Great Firewall” of China. It was a frustrating experience for all involved and underscored for me the many ways in which censorship and internet control harms the long-term interests of China. It was, after all, their own scholars who were disadvantaged.
I’m proud of the U.S for defending internet freedom (and of Google for not being evil), and yet I remain skeptical of public diplomacy as a strategy for dealing with China. China would be far more flexible and responsive to quiet diplomacy, when matters are raised at the ministerial level in meetings and not made into a public spectacle. We tend to forget that it was not that long ago that China was a closed society and the transition to a more open and market oriented society is a relatively recent development. Are we expecting too much too soon?
We are witnessing a clash between a country that values freedom and a country that values order. If China can be persuaded that internet freedom can also promote social order, then perhaps they will, in time, lessen their restrictions.





