MEDIA REACTION: SECRETARY CLINTON'S SPEECH, HAITI

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

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TAGS: PREL ECON SENV KGHG KMDR OPRC CH

SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: SECRETARY CLINTON'S SPEECH, HAITI

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Editorial Quotes
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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