New domain rule will not block foreign sites: official
China's amended Internet Domain Name Management Rules will not block access to foreign websites, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Wednesday after U.S. government officials accused China of "fragmenting the Internet" and that the move would "formalize an explicit system of online censorship."
"We are currently revising the draft based on feedback from the public. The legislation will not hinder users' access to foreign websites," an official from the Department of Policies and Laws at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, who asked for anonymity, told the Global Times Wednesday without revealing further details.
The amended draft of the rules was released on March 25 for public opinion gathering, a process which ended on April 25.
The remarks come after U.S. Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Lawrence Strickling and U.S. State Department Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda warned against China's legislation in an article published on the U.S. Department of State Official Blog on Saturday, in which they said "the regulations appear to create a barrier to access and force localization of data and domestic registration of domain names."
"The U.S. accusations against China are untrue. China has been integrating into the world's [Internet] and insisting on the development of cyberspace. It's impossible for China to cut off its Internet connection to the world, as it will neither benefit Chinese people nor the international public," Qin An, a cyber-security expert at the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, told the Global Times.
Article 37 of the draft legislation states that Internet domain names that have Internet connections within the Chinese mainland should register with domestic domain name registration services, which should in turn be managed by Chinese authorities. Internet service providers are not allowed to provide access to domain names that are not registered in China, it adds.
The new rules have drawn attention from foreign governments and observers, who suspect that the move might mean tighter controls on foreign registered websites.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology clarified on March 30 that the rules are not in "fundamental conflict with the International Domain Name System" and will not block users from accessing "relevant Internet content" or affect foreign companies as they conduct normal operations in China.
Multipolar cyberspace
"These regulations would contravene policies that have been established already at the global level by all Internet stakeholders (including Chinese). If put into effect, these regulations would have potentially large and negative repercussions for everyone," the article on the U.S. Department of State Official Blog read.
But Chinese experts said that China would unquestionably strengthen its management of Internet sovereignty, adding that the U.S. should not be the only power in cyberspace.
"Currently, except the U.S., most countries' voices on Internet issues have been diminished. Most network services are provided by the U.S., and many Internet security issues have happened under the U.S.' so-called 'freedom and equality of the Internet,'" said Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communications Law Research Center at the China University of Political Science and Law.
According to figures from the China Internet Network Information Center in January, the number of China's domain names had increased to over 31 million as of December 2015.
Slamming the U.S.' "double-standards," Qin said the U.S. should adjust to accept China's rise as an Internet giant and help each other build a community of shared future in cyberspace.
"The equality of the Internet lies in the sovereignty of a country's cyberspace. International communication online should be controlled by a country's laws and social conventions, or it will be chaotic with no security guarantees," Zhu said.
Chinese authorities have been taking measures in the nation's campaign to enhance cyberspace management. New regulations to strengthen supervision of online publications took effect on March 10, which stipulate that technical equipment, servers and storage devices used by online publications must be kept in China.
