Page 112 - 2018 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
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8 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
and strong denials of any involvement, Washington of the nation or the ruling Communist Party, including
alleged were sponsored by China. These accusations have social networks, entertainment, pornography and news
long been an irritant in bilateral relations. However, the sites. Nicknamed the Great Firewall, the nation’s web filter
dialogue in June 2017 served to clarify the situation and limits what users can see and scrubs keywords related
help end the altercation, as both sides pledged to jointly to sensitive topics. Many foreign social-media sites are
crack down on cyber crimes and continue to implement affected, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and
their consensus on cyber security cooperation, including Instagram. Many news sources are also blocked. All media
the agreement that neither side will conduct or support originating in China are licensed by the government and
the cyber theft of intellectual property. It is heartening many outlets practice in-house censorship. The latest
that such frank exchanges have been the hallmark of the crackdown is focused on individuals, which means
first round of four dialogues between the US and China, companies and other organizations will still have the
since building a truly cooperative partnership between the ability to access VPNs or VPN-like services as long as
two sides requires mutual trust and respect, and these can they are registered. It’s not clear how easy it will be to
only be established by talking sincerely with one another obtain permissions, or who will be eligible. It’s also not
to dispel misperceptions and suspicions. Addressing their clear whether there will be workarounds for employees
concerns head-on in their talks will enable each to better of approved companies to use VPN-like services while
understand the other’s intentions (Zhao). working from home, or on business trips, or only from
registered offices (Larson, Yang, and Gao).
The CAC unveiled a new set of regulations on
online groups in September 2017. The Public Security A law was passed in November 2016 at a bimonthly
Bureau issued an urgent warning declaring that online session of the National People’s Congress Standing
discussions on WeChat were subject to new rules, and Committee after a third reading requiring Internet
that a few group chat administrators had been detained products and services that may affect national security to
as punishment. In the statement, the CAC reiterated undergo a security review. This new law went into effect
that all group chat members, especially organizers and June 1, 2017, the same day as the cyber security law.
administrators, should be responsible for their comments China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
in cyberspace. In addition, the police listed nine taboo (MIIT) issued a notice in January 2017 that it would strictly
topics for online chat group users: curtail the unapproved use of VPNs by Chinese firms.
Many Chinese Internet users were concerned about the
Politically sensitive topics; announcement and feared that it would further close off
Rumors; China’s Internet from the rest of the world. In the “Notice
Internal memos; of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on
Content related to porn, drugs, and terrorism; Clearing the Internet Market of Network Access Services”,
News regarding Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau that the Ministry stated that it would tighten control over
hasn’t been published by official sources; VPNs often used within China to access websites blocked
Military data; by the“Golden Shield Project”(better known as the“Great
Information containing state secrets; Firewall of China”). Authorities would begin to strengthen
Seemingly fabricated video clips that defame or insult control over companies in the areas of Content Delivery
the police and are released by unknown sources; Networks (CDN), Internet Data Centers (IDC) and Internet
Any other content that violates related laws and Service Providers (ISP). The notice claimed China would
regulations (Feng). “put an end to illegal business activities,” which entails
the unauthorized use of VPNs and that the measurement
Virtual Private Network (VPN) was implemented to “promote the healthy and orderly
development of the Internet industry.” Companies would
A VPN is a third-party service that routes web traffic be able to apply for approval to set up or rent special
through servers in another country or location to where Internet connections for “cross-border operations”, but
a person physically is. While they have standard business those without official approval will be barred from using
purposes, such as connecting a traveling employee VPNs (Koetse).
to the company’s home network, they are also used to
avoid geographic restrictions on websites. China blocks According to Bloomberg, Beijing ordered state-run
all manner of content it sees as contrary to the interests telecommunications firms in July 2017 to bar people
112
and strong denials of any involvement, Washington of the nation or the ruling Communist Party, including
alleged were sponsored by China. These accusations have social networks, entertainment, pornography and news
long been an irritant in bilateral relations. However, the sites. Nicknamed the Great Firewall, the nation’s web filter
dialogue in June 2017 served to clarify the situation and limits what users can see and scrubs keywords related
help end the altercation, as both sides pledged to jointly to sensitive topics. Many foreign social-media sites are
crack down on cyber crimes and continue to implement affected, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and
their consensus on cyber security cooperation, including Instagram. Many news sources are also blocked. All media
the agreement that neither side will conduct or support originating in China are licensed by the government and
the cyber theft of intellectual property. It is heartening many outlets practice in-house censorship. The latest
that such frank exchanges have been the hallmark of the crackdown is focused on individuals, which means
first round of four dialogues between the US and China, companies and other organizations will still have the
since building a truly cooperative partnership between the ability to access VPNs or VPN-like services as long as
two sides requires mutual trust and respect, and these can they are registered. It’s not clear how easy it will be to
only be established by talking sincerely with one another obtain permissions, or who will be eligible. It’s also not
to dispel misperceptions and suspicions. Addressing their clear whether there will be workarounds for employees
concerns head-on in their talks will enable each to better of approved companies to use VPN-like services while
understand the other’s intentions (Zhao). working from home, or on business trips, or only from
registered offices (Larson, Yang, and Gao).
The CAC unveiled a new set of regulations on
online groups in September 2017. The Public Security A law was passed in November 2016 at a bimonthly
Bureau issued an urgent warning declaring that online session of the National People’s Congress Standing
discussions on WeChat were subject to new rules, and Committee after a third reading requiring Internet
that a few group chat administrators had been detained products and services that may affect national security to
as punishment. In the statement, the CAC reiterated undergo a security review. This new law went into effect
that all group chat members, especially organizers and June 1, 2017, the same day as the cyber security law.
administrators, should be responsible for their comments China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
in cyberspace. In addition, the police listed nine taboo (MIIT) issued a notice in January 2017 that it would strictly
topics for online chat group users: curtail the unapproved use of VPNs by Chinese firms.
Many Chinese Internet users were concerned about the
Politically sensitive topics; announcement and feared that it would further close off
Rumors; China’s Internet from the rest of the world. In the “Notice
Internal memos; of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on
Content related to porn, drugs, and terrorism; Clearing the Internet Market of Network Access Services”,
News regarding Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau that the Ministry stated that it would tighten control over
hasn’t been published by official sources; VPNs often used within China to access websites blocked
Military data; by the“Golden Shield Project”(better known as the“Great
Information containing state secrets; Firewall of China”). Authorities would begin to strengthen
Seemingly fabricated video clips that defame or insult control over companies in the areas of Content Delivery
the police and are released by unknown sources; Networks (CDN), Internet Data Centers (IDC) and Internet
Any other content that violates related laws and Service Providers (ISP). The notice claimed China would
regulations (Feng). “put an end to illegal business activities,” which entails
the unauthorized use of VPNs and that the measurement
Virtual Private Network (VPN) was implemented to “promote the healthy and orderly
development of the Internet industry.” Companies would
A VPN is a third-party service that routes web traffic be able to apply for approval to set up or rent special
through servers in another country or location to where Internet connections for “cross-border operations”, but
a person physically is. While they have standard business those without official approval will be barred from using
purposes, such as connecting a traveling employee VPNs (Koetse).
to the company’s home network, they are also used to
avoid geographic restrictions on websites. China blocks According to Bloomberg, Beijing ordered state-run
all manner of content it sees as contrary to the interests telecommunications firms in July 2017 to bar people
112
