TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is trying to control the internet and challenge Taiwan's internet security, said Peter Raymond, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), on Tuesday (May 23).
Raymond said China wants to set the technology standards in the digital cyber world to influence internet governance and exert economic, military and persuasive power globally. He was speaking on the China Global podcast.
China promotes a digital governance model that calls for cyber sovereignty and control of operating infrastructure, Raymond said. It encourages each country to regulate the information flow between international and domestic domains.
An earlier report from Raymond shows the CCP's efforts to control its domestic internet infrastructure. It involves building data centers, content delivery networks and cloud services within China. This way, it can expand services and bind platforms to a tech stack often built and serviced by Chinese companies.
Economically, if a country relies on China's technologies for its telecommunications and internet networks, it would depend on that provider for updates, modifications and new compatible technologies, Raymond said. This applies especially to developing countries.
If China sets internet standards, it can deploy its technology and fulfill its vision for internet governance more effectively. "If you can control the technology infrastructure that countries are operating on, it gives you enormous leverage and influence capabilities around the world," Raymond said.
He also warned about the military implications of this control. "It hands the CCP the capability to monitor communications, extract data and even disrupt technology or internet access if necessary."
Raymond contrasted China's push for internationalizing internet governance with the existing system in the West, which Taiwanese are used to. This system encourages free information exchange within a "multistakeholder governance structure" — which Raymond explained as a model that includes private businesses, governments, international entities, civil rights organizations and research institutions.
Raymond's report suggests that the expansion of Chinese platforms in social media, e-commerce and gaming could jeopardize democratic institutions unless the country has a strong institutional and cybersecurity framework to support secure and open digital space. China could potentially manipulate election outcomes, public sentiment and a nation's political, economic and technological reliance on China.
He cautioned that their presence "offers China powerful influence capabilities that could be used to undermine democratic institutions and processes, sow discord and boost China's image and interests."
