Better Internet governance, keys for Internet governance: standards and benchmarks

A series of non-obligatory international norms promoted at a recent Internet conference in Brazil will be helpful to the establishment of global Internet governance, but it remains urgent that some specific rules be worked out to ensure cyberspace is not used as a means for some countries to target others.

The United States National Security Agency's PRISM program disclosed by the Edward Snowden has aggravated the concerns of countries worldwide about cyberspace security and accelerated the push for better Internet governance.

In March, the US government announced that it will turn over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as ICANN, which manages the core functions of the Internet, to a "global multi-stakeholder community". This, if implemented, would be a positive step toward improving global Internet governance. Nevertheless, the better management of cyberspace depends more on how to build a safe, open, equitable and orderly network environment for countries across the world, says an online article of People's Daily.

For the better governance of the Internet, the UN Charter and the universally recognized norms of international relations should be abided by, and the cyberspace sovereignty of each country, including the laws, regulations and policies each country has adopted regarding the Web should be respected.

All countries should be empowered to manage their information facilities and conduct Internet activities within their territory in accordance with their laws, and their information resources should be free from any external threats.

An Internet governance framework should also be built on the principles of tolerance, equality and extensive participation from multiple parties. All countries, big or small, rich or poor, should be allowed to participate in Internet governance and equally share the opportunities brought by booming information technologies. The making of relevant Internet standards, rules and policies should be based on openness, transparency and fairness, and developed countries should help developing ones to develop their network technologies.

And while enjoying their own Internet rights and freedom, countries should not compromise the information freedom and privacy of other countries.

To promote better Internet governance, the voices of all countries should be respected and their coordination is needed to make cyberspace rules acceptable to all.

- China Daily

The key for Internet governance: standards and benchmarks

A global Internet governance conference in Brazil concluded last Tuesday with a strong demand for building an effective worldwide legislative framework, while a series of Internet-related optional standards had been drafted.

The Internet has spread its influence into every aspect of life around the world. But while people enjoy the conveniences that the Internet brings, they are also starting to worry about security and privacy issues and the possible negative impacts of the Internet. Last year, revelations about the American “Prism” program triggered global concerns about surveillance, resulting in calls for protecting the individual, and strengthening Internet governance

Last month, the U.S. announced its plans to turn over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as ICANN, to a “global multi-stakeholder community”, which sent a positive message to the world. But the obligations of Internet governance should go beyond IP address allocation into control of Internet technical standards and a focus on how countries can build a secure, open, transparent, and ordered web environment.

Internet governance should admit and respect a self-regulated space free of government interference in all countries, subject to a country’s level of technology, language, and culture, and people’s wishes in terms of relevant legislation. A country should also be able to supervise its information infrastructure, information resources, and online activities in accordance with laws designed to protect the interests of its people.

Internet governance should focus on extensive cooperation among all stakeholders against a backdrop of a tolerant and fair attitude. Any country, big or small, rich or poor, should have both the obligation to participate in Internet governance, and the right to enjoy opportunities created by IT development.

Internet governance should uphold open, transparent, and win-win principles for general cooperation. The decision-making on Internet standards, rules, and policy should be open and transparent; developed countries should be encouraged to help developing countries in improving network techniques and narrowing the information gap.

Internet governance should insist on both rights and obligations. A country should uphold the right to privacy by ensuring the effective implementation of all obligations under human rights law. Everyone should be able to enjoy the right to and freedom of the Internet, subject to not damaging the interests of other people or the country, and not breaking the law or damaging social morality.

The key for global Internet governance is to promote close cooperation among countries, and build a practical network of international Internet-related rules and standards. All opinions and proposals from all countries should be heard with equal importance while defining rules suitable for all countries.

- The article is edited and translated from 《互联网治理，规范和标准是关键》, source: People's Daily

Related posts:

USA Spying, the Super-Snooper ! Get pay from spying?
 US, Britain spying on virtual world, agents pose as gamers
 NSA's secret MYSTIC system is capable ...
 US Spy Snowden Says US Hacking China Since 2009
 US, UK, India among 'Free World' Governments ...
2013 the year of Internet innovation
 No privacy on the Net ! 
 NSA secretly hacks, intercepts Google, Yahoo daily

US shows its true colors: hypocritically abuses principles of UNCLOS to benefit itself !

 Images for US hypocrisy

US hypocritically abuses principles of UNCLOS to benefit itself

The high-profile interventions by the US in the disputes between China and some of its neighbors over some islands or reefs and maritime entitlements in recent years, have seen the US frequent making use of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It seems that according to the US, China has become a violator of UNCLOS.    

The fact is that the disputes between China and some of its neighbors over some islands or reefs fall within the scope of territorial disputes, which are not subject to UNCLOS' regulation and adjustment.

Moreover, China, as a state party to UNCLOS, made a declaration in 2006, which excluded disputes on maritime delimitation and historic title or rights from the compulsory dispute settlement procedures, in accordance with relevant UNCLOS provisions concerning optional exceptions.

The US, which keeps on emphasizing the rule of international law, should be well aware of this background. However, the US has repeatedly distorted UNCLOS to negate China's lawful maritime claims and rights. Anyone with common sense can understand what the US acts mean.  

While the US behaves like a state party to UNCLOS and argumentatively invokes UNCLOS to criticize China, it forgets that it has not ratified UNCLOS itself. As the world's top sea power and significant coastal state, the US, under the excuse that UNCLOS has become part of the customary international law, has enjoyed all the rights given by UNCLOS while choosing to evade the related duties at the same time. This clearly demonstrates the selective and utilitarian attitude of the US toward UNCLOS.  

The US misuse of UNCLOS is also well reflected in its self-granted impunity concerning its maritime military maneuvers. The US possesses ultra-strong naval power and the capacity to control all the world's strategically important maritime locations, and its freedom of navigation and maritime entitlements have never been threatened.

With the development of modern naval weaponry particularly the enhancement of the electronic telecommunication and reconnaissance capabilities, the US has for a long time expanded its maritime and aerial reconnaissance and deterrence activities into other countries' exclusive economic zones (EEZ) and the airspace above them, causing disquietude among many developing coastal states, and making the utilization of EEZs for military purposes a highly controversial issue globally.

Washington has made a series of US-style interpretations on UNCLOS' EEZ regime, such as confusing the EEZ with the high seas in its excessive expansion of its naval ships' rights to free movement, misinterpreting the provisions concerning the peaceful use of oceans for an improper assertion that all non-invasive military activities are lawful, arguing that its military ships' close-reconnaissance of other countries' EEZs are hydrological surveys or intelligence collection, and so on.

The self-granted impunity mentioned above fully reveals the unscrupulous US playing with and trampling on UNCLOS.       

And from the perspective of timing, when the US started to put into practice its "pivot to Asia" strategy, it simultaneously began to make an issue of UNCLOS under the circumstances of its not-yet accession into it, and to hype up the East China Sea and South China Sea issues, so as to pave the way for its military "rebalance." 

Rather than adopting a "double standard" in using UNCLOS to realize its selfish interests and "rebalance" other countries, the US, the self-proclaimed defender of regional maritime order and mediator of relevant disputes, should consciously abide by the maritime norms in accordance with the spirit of UNCLOS.

It should  show respect to the joint efforts by China and its neighbors in resolving relevant disputes through consultations and negotiations, and engage more in activities which are conductive to regional peace and stability, maritime cooperation and development.

-  By Shen Yamei Source: Global Times Published: 2014-4-29 21:43:01
The author is an associate research fellow with Center for Maritime Security and Cooperation Studies, China Institute of International Studies. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

US shows its true colors

 http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/ 

Just as many have observed, united States President Barack Obama's Asia visit is essentially about Washington's and its allies' unease about a rising China.

From Tokyo to Manila, Obama has tried to pick his words so as not to antagonize Beijing. But from the US-Japan joint statement to the new US-Philippines defense agreement, it is increasingly obvious that Washington is taking Beijing as an opponent. With Obama reassuring the US' allies of protection in any conflict with China, it is now clear that Washington is no longer bothering to conceal its attempt to contain China's influence in the region. It is even less convincing to say the US pivot to the Asia-Pacific is not targeted against China.

Obama's rhetoric about peace and international law sounds hollow because it contradicts what Washington and himself have been up to. The US-Japan statement, for instance, is a dangerous license for the increasingly rightist Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to provoke more trouble. Its shameless disregard of historical facts and endorsement of Abe's rightist inclinations will only cause further instability.

For a considerably long period, Chinese have cherished the naive thought that Washington will rein in its unruly allies when they go too far.

Obama's current trip should be a wake-up call that this is just wishful thinking. His sweet promises of a new type of major-country relationship should not blind us to the grim geopolitical reality: Ganging up with its troublemaking allies, the US is presenting itself as a security threat to China.


The foremost threat is not the disputes that estrange China from its neighbors such as Japan and the Philippines. It is rather the threatening image of China that is being projected and marketed by these malicious neighbors and their backstage supporter.

Washington's biased portrayal of China and its legitimate territorial claims is conducive to the US' pivot and stronger bonds with its allies. But if the US wants to benefit from the thriving Asia-Pacific, it should promote good-neighborliness.

The further prosperity of the region calls for closer intra-regional connectivity, to which the current tensions are a threat. Washington should try to ease those tensions, instead of fanning them.

Most important of all, Washington must come to terms with the reality that China will continue to grow, though it will not follow the US' hegemonic path.

Washington's best bet lies in collaborating with, not standing against, Beijing before it is too late. - China Daily

Related posts:

Obama's loss of balance, his Diaoyu Islands vow 'may backfire'

US president barack obama may have congratulated himself in private for apparently pulling off a difficult balancing act, but if so, he is...

Obama beefs up Philippines with military pact gives US access to air, sea bases

Obama's Manila visit beefs up Philippines    US President Barack Obama is now in Manila, the last stop of his Asia tour, after h...

 
The hypocrisy of some nations

Double standards on Ukraine and Crimea

US double standard on terrorism encourages slaughters

Obama beefs up Philippines with military pact gives US access to air, sea bases

Obama's Manila visit beefs up Philippines 

 US President Barack Obama is now in Manila, the last stop of his Asia tour, after his visit to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. This is Obama's first visit to the Philippines in more than six years since he took office in January 2009. He hopes to reiterate and reinforce the US "pivot to Asia" strategy that has been struggling to gain footing.

Against the background of a drastically changing geopolitical landscape in the Asia-Pacific region with growing Chinese influence, the US is keen to rally its Asian allies to maintain and promote its status as an Asia-Pacific country.

The Philippines is among the most aggressive claimants of the South China Sea, and Washington keeps reassuring this state, which is a stronghold on the "first island chain" around China.

Apart from counterbalancing an increasingly assertive China by intensifying strategic cooperation with and pledging economic assistance to China's surrounding countries, Washington also attempts to remold its image in the mind of its Asian allies, in particular when its European allies are losing confidence in the world's greatest power because of the Ukraine crisis.

Now that London is behaving half-heartedly, Paris and Berlin have shown reluctance to impose harsher sanctions against Moscow over its integration of Crimea, Obama intends to exhibit his firm commitment to reassuring all allied nations by aiding the Philippines, a treaty ally that is both economically and militarily backward.

Defense and security issues are dominating Obama's journey in Manila and economic concerns are another area on his agenda.

Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador Philip Goldberg on Monday morning signed a 10-year deal, allowing a bigger US military presence in the Philippines and better access of US troops to the country's military bases, ports and airfields.

The Philippines was once home to two of the largest US naval and air force bases outside the continental US territory till the early 1990s. Now in light of China's increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea, the White House is sparing no effort to beef up its military presence in one of the critical links around Beijing.

More than 100 left-wing activists demonstrated at the US embassy in Manila to oppose Obama's visit and the military accord on April 23, despite the expectations from the Philippine military, business sector and local media for more US military equipment including advanced ships and aircraft .But it should be noted that the small-scale protest is a routine affair and therefore Aquino's government is unlikely to pay special heed to it.

Also on the agenda for Obama's Manila visit is economic cooperation and financial assistance.

The New York Times commented that given the wide spectrum of security difficulties the US is facing in Asia, promoting trading collaboration might be the best way for Obama to build credibility in his "rebalancing toward Asia" policy.

There is no denying that economic interaction with its Asian partners will help increase the US capital export.

Nevertheless, for the Philippines enmeshed in long-term economic debilitation, the number of cooperation programs the White House will offer may be quite limited.

Manila is in no way comparable to Tokyo or Seoul, the most vital economic pillars among the US' Asian allies, a pragmatic Washington will not invest too much.

Obama's pledges of economic packages, if there are any, will be more a show than substantial assistance.

Consequently, the Philippines will get little practical interests except some psychological comfort from its US ally, since Obama also refrains from drawing another red line on possible military action against Beijing.

Washington has deliberately been scheming to attract Manila to its geopolitical game in the Southeast Asia in a bid to continue the territorial rows over the South China Sea and counterbalance China's rise.

Compiled by Global Times reporter Wang Xiaonan, based on an interview with Ji Qiufeng, professor of international relations at the School of History, Nanjing University.
 

Philippine pact gives US access to air, sea bases

US President Barack Obama chats with Philippine counterpart Benigno Aquino as he signs the guest book at the Malacanang Palace in Manila on Monday.[Photo / Agencies]

Obama backs Manila's decision to seek int'l arbitration of territorial dispute

Washington secured a key part of its pivot to the Asia-Pacific region with a decadelong defense pact with Manila on Monday, as observers said the militarization of the region is playing with fire and makes a diplomatic settlement much harder.

The US-Philippine Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement was signed on Monday at the Defense Ministry in Manila shortly before Obama's arrival on the last stop of his four-country Asian tour.

The pact gives US forces temporary access to selected bases and allows them to base fighter jets and ships in the Philippines, as "part of a rebalancing of US resources towards fast-growing Asia and the Pacific", Reuters said.

The US goal in Asia, Obama said on Monday, was not to contain or counter a rising China. However he "backed Manila's efforts" to submit territorial problems with China to adjudication by international arbitration, AFP said.

The rhetoric has been charged recently between Beijing and Manila as the Philippines tried to boost its claims over China's Huangyan Island and Ren'ai Reef in the South China Sea and sought greater involvement from Washington.

"Manila's efforts have dovetailed with Washington's intention to shift to the economically booming Asian region, partly as a counterweight to China's growing clout," Associated Press said.

Rommel Banlaoi, an analyst at Manila's Center for Intelligence and National Security, told Reuters that relations between the Philippines and China will deteriorate further as China "is averse to any Philippine government initiative to involve the US in its security agenda".

"We are strengthening our relationship with the US at the expense of our relationship with China," he said.

Jia Duqiang, a Southeast Asian studies expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the pact serves as a component of "the Obama administration's ongoing plans to militarize issues that are rumbling in the Asia-Pacific region", and this is "actually playing with fire".

"We have seen Obama press the need for defense cooperation with US allies in almost every stop of his Asian trip, which illustrates Washington's unchanged double approach in its dealings with China — dialogue plus coercion," Jia said.

Responding to the pact on Monday, Beijing called for "relevant countries" to build more bridges to facilitate trust, regional peace, stability and prosperity.

"The US has said on different occasions that Washington has no intention of coercive moves against China, and it is necessary to examine the follow-up remarks and actions," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a news conference in Beijing on Monday.

The defense deal was signed and announced "when tensions between China and its neighbors have been rising" and it is "the biggest policy achievement" of Obama's trip to Asia, the Washington Post commented.

The Philippines was an American colony from 1898 to 1946, and their defense treaty, signed in 1951, is the oldest US treaty alliance in Asia. During the Cold War the US had a large military presence in the Philippines at Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Station.

But a greater US presence in the Philippines is a heated topic. Fiery debates in the Philippine Senate ultimately led to closing Subic Bay Naval Station, the last permanent US base in the country, in 1992.

Qu Xing, president of the China Institute of International Studies, warned that rising tension concerning the South China Sea has radicalized public sentiment in some countries, which makes rational discussion over the issue at the diplomatic table "much harder".

Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said a number of China-related remarks made by prominent US figures, including Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who visited China earlier this month, have sent a clear signal that "Washington is backing the Philippines".

"These remarks run counter to the official US position that it does not take a position over the South China Sea issue," Wu said.

Obama said at a news conference on Monday, "We welcome China's peaceful rise. We have a constructive relationship with China."

But Jia from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the Philippines, more so than Japan or Vietnam, has fully endorsed the US strategy of containing China.

"Beijing should never have high expectations of Washington taking a fair approach over the South China Sea issue," Jia said. "The tension in the South China Sea will probably worsen because Washington is determined more than ever to contain China in this regard," Jia said.

- By Zhang Yunbi China Daily

Containment unlikely in Asian geopolitics 

Is it for containing China? This is a question that will be haunting the whole of East Asia during US President Obama's ongoing trip to this area. Tokyo and Manila hope it is, but the facts will prove it is only their wishful thinking.

Obama's four-country visit should have been done last October. But it was delayed because of the debt ceiling crisis and government shutdown. When voices about the US declining are rising dramatically, the top priority of Obama's trip is to reassure its Asian allies to keep their faith in Washington.

Washington keeps declaring that it doesn't pick sides in terms of the Sino-Japanese and Sino-Philippine territorial disputes. But it explicitly shows favor for Tokyo and Manila when frictions in these areas take place.

Washington tries to kill two birds with one stone by supporting its allies while avoiding irritating China, a delicate way to maintain the balance between business profits and political influence.

Obama putting off the October trip has already sent a signal that Asian allies must make way for US domestic affairs.

While in order to revive its declining economy, the US depends much more on China than these allies. Washington cannot bear a strategic confrontation of containment and counter-containment with China.

China's Asia policy keeps holding the strategic initiative with restraint. Washington and its allies' arrangements to contain China will probably end up in vain. They have no chips to bargain with China. In fact, both the US and its allies are calculating how to benefit from China's growth.

China's rise has become the biggest variable in the Asia-Pacific strategic framework. China shows to the world that it is committed to utilizing its power in a peaceful and restrained manner, and the US has also basically recognized a stronger China.

These two new developments are shaping a new Asia-Pacific order during China's rise. There will be a new balance in this area, and no countries are able to break it.

Obama's rebalance toward Asia is a rearrangement of the US presence in this area to maximize its interests. But the US is not powerful or ambitious enough to contain China in this area, or even strangle China before it rises to be a global power.

It is just an illusion for some Asian countries to contain China. In fact, there are many controversies concerning China's rise within the US-led alliance.

Japan and the Philippines want a tough stand against China, but are also worried that Asia might become the victim of a Cold War-like confrontation between the US and China.

Containing China is a plausible option for several Asian countries, but it will be proven impossible in the real Asian geopolitical game.

Obama should know that his actions and remarks during this trip will keep making headlines, but he had better not stir up a situation that is even beyond his own control.

Global Times  2014-4-23 23:53:17

Related:  The US and Japan are playing with fire in Asia

Related posts:

Obama's loss of balance, his Diaoyu Islands vow 'may backfire'

US president barack obama may have congratulated himself in private for apparently pulling off a difficult balancing act, but if so, he is...

Asia future at risk if Obama sends wrong signals to Japan

US President Barack Obama steps from the Air Force One as he arrives in Tokyo, Japan on April 23, 2014. Obama began a four-country trip...