Jill Goldenziel
U.S.-China tech competition is about more than tariffs. The future of the Internet is at stake. China is not just exporting hardware—it is exporting laws, standards, and authoritarian control. China is promoting its vision of what cyberspace should look like, which clashes sharply with the U.S.’s vision for a free and open Internet. To do so, China is training other governments in its authoritarian ways. It is fiercely seeking to dominate the little-known international organizations that literally set the standards for global tech, ensuring that Chinese firms have a global edge. China is also exporting its Legal Great Wall, repressive laws related to China’s national security and cybersecurity. China is attempting to enforce those laws abroad—even in the U.S. The U.S. and the private sector must act to counter China’s legal warfare—and keep China from taking over the Internet.
China’s Competing Vision for Tech and Cyberspace
The U.S.’s conception of what the Internet should look like is vastly different than China’s. The latest U.S. National Security Strategy, released in 2022, endorses the UN Norms of Responsible State Behavior in Cyberspace as the “rules of the road” for cyberspace and says the U.S. will promote them together with partner and ally nations. These “UN Cyber Norms,” were created by a UN Group of Governmental Experts and affirmed by the UN General Assembly in 2021. The 11 basic norms specify that states should not attack critical infrastructure, respond to requests for assistance by those attacked, and cooperate with other states to stop crime and terrorism, and other rules designed to keep civilians safe from cyber conflict. As the Strategy says, the Norms affirm that “human rights apply online just as they do offline.” Project 2025 goes even further than non-binding norms. Project 2025 advocates for the State Department to work with allies on a binding framework of enforceable norms that would “draw clear lines of unacceptable conduct” in cyberspace.
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