Double standard spreads to cyber world

• Source: Global Times
• [00:51 January 25 2010]
• Comments

The Web technological advantage, hailed by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as "huge strategic assets," may be manipulated to serve US national interests. Quite a few cases can be cited when the domain name registry of a certain country in serious conflict with the US was blocked or deleted from the terminal servers, and that country would disappear on Internet for several days.

Keeping that in mind, it would be easier to understand that the technological monopoly and one-way freedom, enjoyed by the US, is contrary to the spirit of democracy and the golden rule. Any attempt to extend the hegemony to Internet should be resisted.

Should any Western government accuse China of restricting access to Internet, it is either out of ignorance of the facts, or a cold war mentality.

The past two years have seen Web users in China booming from half of that in the US to a third more than the US population. China will continue to make Internet open and one of the key forces driving social and technological progress at its own, harmonious pace.

The cyber world is an extension of the tangible world, and universal values and rule of law apply in both.

If the US wants to continue taking the lead on Internet, then it should respect facts and do as it would be done by.