China’s Internet Chief Lu Wei fiercely defended his country’s strict management of the web on Wednesday, saying that censorship of content Beijing deems illegal is necessary to protect online freedoms.
The comments come a week before the country convenes its second World Internet Conference, an event whose version 1.0 last year was greeted with derision by many who questioned China’s motives.
The conference is part of China’s push to sell the idea of “internet sovereignty”, a concept that stands at odds with a vision of the Internet as a free and open global commons.
China censors online content it deems to be politically sensitive, while blocking some Western media websites and the services of Internet giants including Facebook, Twitter and Google.
The policy is one facet of Beijing’s strict limits on freedom of expression, and rights groups say it uses state security as a pretense to crack down on political dissent.
Through its Internet controls, China strives to “manage well the relationship between freedom and order”, Lu Wei said during a press briefing in Beijing ahead of the conference.
“Freedom is our goal and order is our means,” he said. “Freedom without order doesn’t exist.” Lu believes China has studied the idea from “developed countries in the West”.
“There isn’t a country in the whole world where Internet content isn’t managed,” Lu added.
Lu is a powerful figure both at home and abroad, where he has commanded the attention of global technology firms eager for a piece of the Chinese market.
An October report by the American pro-democracy think tank Freedom House found that China has the most restrictive Internet policies of 65 countries studied, ranking below Iran and Syria.