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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 000192 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/CM, EAP/PA, EAP/PD, C 
HQ PACOM FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR (J007) 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREL ECON SENV KGHG KMDR OPRC CH
 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: SECRETARY CLINTON'S SPEECH, HAITI 
 
-------------------- 
  Editorial Quotes 
-------------------- 
 
¶1. SECRETARY CLINTON'S SPEECH 
 
a. "To be vigilant about the U.S.'s Internet hegemony" 
 
The official Communist Party international news publication Global 
Times (Huanqiu Shibao)(01/25)(pg 14): "Google's attack against the 
Chinese government, Secretary Clinton's speech on 'Internet freedom' 
and President Obama's support of Secretary Clinton, as well as 
United States' officials and businessmen, the State Department and 
the White House, have all launched a rare Internet attack against 
China and other non-western countries.  The United States' motive, 
which has outraged many non-Western countries' people, is worth our 
vigilance.  The United States is trying to use its advantages in 
manufacturing and disseminating information to promote its Internet 
hegemony, hoping that the whole world could be subservient in an 
information world centered around American ideology.  In China, at 
major websites, it is easy to see remarks like 'This is kidnapping! 
A trickster acting as a savior in the name of promoting freedom'; 
'U.S. Strategy: missile + network = take hegemony in the world!'  In 
a poll by the Global Times website, 87% of netizens didn't believe 
the U.S. government really intends to promote China's Internet's 
progress.   The United States is the largest Internet information 
monopolist.  Most of the world's Internet's 'lifeblood', or root 
servers, are located in the U.S.  Many countries and scholars have 
suggested that it is very dangerous to let the U.S. possess the 
'live-or-die' power of the Internet and it should be handed over to 
international authorities.  But the U.S. refuses to hand it over, 
which further increases the vigilance of the 1.3 billion Chinese 
people and non-Western countries whom are against the United States. 
 It seems the U.S. government has forgotten what Bill Clinton once 
said in 1994: 'I won't tell a big country like China how to deal 
with its domestic issues, how to treat its people and what law it is 
supposed to constitute." 
 
b. "How large is the influence of the American Internet?" 
 
The official Communist Party international news publication Global 
Times (Huanqiu Shibao)(01/25)(pg 7): "From the chip to the operating 
system, from root server to domain name management, the United 
States dominates every part of the industry.  The U.S., with its 
leading position in the information industry, and English as the 
primary Internet language, has become a truly sovereign nation of 
information.  As statistics show, more than 2/3 of information flow 
on the Internet is from the U.S., far ahead of Japan and Germany.  A 
report issued lately by the China Electronic Commerce Research 
Center revealed that American Internet capitalists have almost 
dominated the whole Chinese Internet industry.  Experts said that 
this means that the U.S. shares the majority of Chinese Internet 
companies' profits.  Shen Dingli, a professor at Fudan University, 
said that behind most Internet protocols and software is an American 
company.  It is said that Google is undertaking an advertisement 
project named 'behavior targeting,' which will define users' needs 
according to their web history on the Internet.  If this is true, is 
it you who will be using the Internet or will you be dominated by 
the Internet empire?  20 years ago, the U.S. was expanding its 
high-profile imperialism in the way of foreign exports, represented 
by McDonalds and Coca Cola.  Today, it has changed to exporting 
thoughts, concepts and 'online soft power with noble virtues.'  The 
U.S. has developed a new means of sanction other than military, 
economic and trade sanctions: information sanction.  Within the 
short term, it is hard for China to change its disadvantageous 
position within the Internet." 
 
¶C. "The internet is free and is also ruled by law" 
 
The Beijing-based newspaper sponsored by official intellectual 
publication Guangming Daily and Guangdong Provincial official 
publication Nanfang Daily The Beijing News (Xin Jing Bao)(01/23)(pg 
A02): "Chinese netizens are increasing at the rate of 200,000 more 
every day.  Recently, China is the country with the most active 
Internet development, which is the best proof that the saying 'China 
restricts the development of Internet' is a falsehood.  Taking the 
development of the Internet in China, as an example when promoting 
social progress and cracking down on corruption, it is the Chinese 
Internet's openness that has enabled several social incidents, like 
the Zhou Zhenglong case (the forgery photo of South China tiger), 
Deng Yujiao case (where a hotel waitress stabbed an official to 
death) and 'hurry & scurry case' (where a man died strangely in 
custody and the police said he died from an injury received when he 
played the game 'hurry and scurry' with his inmates), to be revealed 
to the public and therefore justice has been realized.  Internet is 
free but has its boundaries; the law.  U.S. Secretary Clinton also 
admits the fact that the Internet is a double-edged sword.  One 
could use it to do good things or bad things.  We should be 
cautious, some people are trying to politicize the internet issue in 
 
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order to blame other countries and intervene in their affairs.  This 
is the exact same way that they used the 'human rights' issue.  This 
approach is not pragmatic and we will for sure say 'no' to it." 
 
d. "Internet freedom" and "smart power" diplomacy 
 
The official Communist Party People's Daily (Renmin Ribao)(01/25)(pg 
4): "Talking about 'freedom' is a really smart move if one wants to 
take the moral high ground.  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary 
Clinton's speech does contain some originality because who dares go 
against 'Internet freedom' and 'freedom'?  This speech demonstrated 
the 'smart power' Secretary Clinton has advocated.  The United 
States has many double standards regarding Internet freedom because 
it strictly controls its Internet while asking other countries to 
build a utopia of 'Internet freedom'.  Reality has proved that this 
'Internet freedom' is merely another diplomatic tactic and illusion 
of freedom.  In the Internet era, the sovereignty of nations has 
expanded to the 'information frontier'.  The United States, the 
birthplace of the Internet, who has the most advanced Internet 
application, has found the most favorable battlefield for itself. 
If the United States really wants to make 'an Internet without 
restrictions' part of its national brand, why does it still control 
terminal servers firmly in its own hands?  For the United States, 
whether it is 'hard power', 'soft power' or even 'smart power', 
whether it is human rights, democracy or even 'Internet freedom', it 
is the United States' national interests that is behind all these 
frequently changing tactics." 
 
e. "Let's see the freedom of information in the United States" 
 
The official Communist Party People's Daily (Renmin Ribao) 
(01/24)(pg 3): "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a 
speech, in which she claimed to take advantage of the power of 
Internet and other high-tech tools to promote globally the 
American-style freedom of information, and help people around the 
world get free access to the Internet to enhance free flow of 
information.  However, what is the so-called free flow of 
information?  Are those without limitation necessarily the best and 
freest?  Has the United States achieved this?  In other words, can 
freedom go beyond the law?  Let's think about it in transposition. 
Can Google use the so-called freedom as an excuse to defy the law in 
the United States?  Can Chinese companies operating in the United 
States disobey U.S. laws?  In the United States, can all 
pornographic information or speeches inciting acts of terrorism flow 
on the internet freely?  The United States' answer is obvious: the 
Obama administration has been trying to layout the U.S. network 
security.  The United States is the world's first country who 
introduced the concept of network warfare, established and developed 
a new military branch - the military network, and even set up a 
network of hacker forces.  U.S. intelligence agencies also, through 
technological means, comprehensively monitor, track, delete and even 
alter information on the Internet that is not conducive to U.S. 
national interests.  In such circumstances, the U.S. demands other 
countries to allow free flow of network information, which is really 
ridiculous.  In the eyes of American politicians, only the 
information controlled by the United States is deemed as free 
information, only the expressions approved by the United States are 
deemed as free expressions and only the flow of information that 
meets the needs of U.S. national interests is deemed as free flow of 
information.  Behind the United States' so-called freedom of 
information is its blatant political motive.  The turbulent 
aftermath of Iran's election was a result of the internet war 
initiated by the United States.  If the U.S. really wants to pursue 
free flow of information, why did Microsoft announce in a high 
profile last year to stop MSN services in five so-called "hostile" 
countries including Cuba?  It is obvious that the United States 
imposes double standards on the freedom of information.  They wave a 
big stick, in the name "freedom fighters," against those who are not 
in line with their political views and values, but distort facts or 
even confuse right and wrong when preserving their own interests. 
We have already seen many times the American game of playing double 
standards.  Under the umbrella of freedom are only the privileges 
and interests of the American politicians." 
 
¶2. HAITI 
 
"Both China and the U.S. manifest their soft power in relief efforts 
in Haiti" 
 
The official Communist Party international news publication Global 
Times (Huanqiu Shibao)(01/25)(pg 14): "Among rescue efforts in 
Haiti, the performance of China and the United States who can be 
said to be equal, have their own advantages and disadvantages and 
are worth our reflection.  China's performance is praiseworthy. 
Meanwhile, the U.S. undoubtedly played an important role in those 
rescue relief efforts.  In a sense, the international humanitarian 
disaster relief, is the stage for a nation to showcase its image and 
enhance its own power.  In the process, China seized the opportunity 
to quickly respond, while its comprehensive capability in disaster 
 
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relief and providing supplies is still left far behind that of the 
U.S.  Organizing the expertise and the humanitarian disaster relief 
troops, following its peacekeeping troops, may become the second 
military strength of China." 
 
HUNTSMAN