U.S. Firms Tout China Despite Web Curbs -- WSJ
December 04 2017 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
Cyberspace gathering stresses cooperation even as Beijing
tightens grip on the internet
By Liza Lin
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (December 4, 2017).
WUZHEN, China -- China's tightening grip on the internet has
forced U.S. companies to recalibrate their efforts here, but there
was little outward sign of friction as American executives on
Sunday touted their commitment to the crucial Chinese market during
the government's annual cyberspace conference.
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook and Cisco Systems Inc. CEO
Chuck Robbins were among those echoing the conference theme:
"Developing [a] digital economy for openness and shared
benefits."
That theme "is a vision we at Apple share," Mr. Cook said. "We
are proud to have worked alongside many of our partners in China to
help build a community to join a common future in cyberspace."
That common future has caveats. Despite the assertion of
openness, China's internet is walled off from the rest of the
world, with Alphabet Inc.'s Google search engine and Facebook
Inc.'s eponymous social network among the platforms blocked.
A new cyberspace law that went into effect June 1 tightened
restrictions, leading Apple to remove virtual-private-network
programs from its Chinese App Store that enabled people to evade
the internet firewall.
Cisco, meanwhile, is one of many U.S. companies that has found
it expedient to form a partnership with a Chinese company to do
business here, a situation overall that some believe amounts to
unfair trade practices. Mr. Robbins also sounded a cooperative
note, touting the billions of dollars in local procurement Cisco
has made in China.
"In order to build this common future, we must also embark on a
new area of global cooperation and new partnerships," Mr. Robbins
said. "No one company, no one country can do it alone. "
Messrs Cook and Robbins both spoke to large crowds. Not so
Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, who faced hundreds of empty
seats during his panel discussion after lunch. Google has had
limited operations in the country since it pulled out of China in
2010 amid a cyberattack it traced to Chinese hackers and complaints
that its content was censored.
As U.S. technology executives gather in Wuzhen, U.S. President
Donald Trump's trade team is considering actions against China for
suspected trade violations, including alleged pressure by China on
U.S. tech companies to turn over their intellectual property for
access to the Chinese market.
The executives might have decided to come in part to ease
potential tensions that could jeopardize their businesses in China,
said Paul Triolo, head of geotechnology at consultancy Eurasia
Group.
Now into its fourth year, the Wuzhen World Internet Conference
is organized by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the
powerful internet bureau whose job includes censorship of content
and blocking access to unapproved sites.
Since the conference began in 2014, China has used the three-day
event to promote its view of a policed internet as an alternative
to the free-for-all that exists in most of the world.
This year, China added a new twist, announcing what might be
called a "One Belt, One Road, One Internet" initiative that adds
cyberspace to the transportation infrastructure campaign it is
promoting to make China the center of a new international trade
hub.
"The Belt and Road" digital-economy cooperation international
initiative seeks to expand cooperation in 15 areas, including
e-commerce, regulation and international standard-setting, with
countries such as Thailand, Turkey and the United Arab
Emirates.
Wang Huning, the newly named member of China's Politburo
Standing Committee, gave his first speech since his appointment in
October and called on countries to work together to promote
compatible web policies and to cooperate on cybersecurity. A former
politics professor, Mr. Wang now has the responsibility to handle
party affairs including ideology and propaganda.
Other executives participating at Sunday's sessions included
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Executive Chairman Jack Ma and Tencent
Holdings Ltd. CEO Pony Ma. Facebook Vice President Vaughan Smith,
LinkedIn Corp. Vice President Allen Blue and Microsoft Executive
Vice President Harry Shum are among those scheduled to speak at
sessions Monday and Tuesday.
Write to Liza Lin at Liza.Lin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 04, 2017 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
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