U.S. Tech CEOs Tout China Cooperation Amid Tighter Internet Rules
December 03 2017 - 9:20AM
Dow Jones News
By Liza Lin
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. head
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 partner 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. "
Mr. Cook and Mr. 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 complaints that its content was censored and a
cyberattack it traced to Chinese hackers.
As U.S. tech execs gather in Wuzhen, U.S. President Donald
Trump's trade team is weighing 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 may have decided to come in part to ease
potential tensions that could jeopardize their businesses in China,
said Paul Triolo, head of geo-technology 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 Wuzhen conference began in 2015, 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 United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Thailand.
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.'s CEO Pony Ma. Facebook Vice President Vaughan Smith;
LinkedIn' Corp. Vice President Allan Blue and Microsoft's 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 03, 2017 09:05 ET (14:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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