Home Internet Governance and Terrorism in the Context of the Chinese Compression of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Internet Governance and Terrorism in the Context of the Chinese Compression of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms

  • Elisa Bertolini

    Assistant Professor of Comparative Law at the Law School Angelo Sraffa, Bocconi University, Milan

    EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: November 15, 2017

Abstract

The Article analyzes the Internet governance in the Chinese context, with a particular focus on the Xinjiang Uighur Special Administrative Region. China is characterized by a tamed version of the Internet, whose governance is founded on the interaction between a highly sophisticated set of censorship tools and psychological self-censorship. In the Xinjiang Uighur Region, this architecture bonds with the war on Islamic terror. Indeed the censorship grip is stronger in the Islamic region, resulting in frequent cut off from the national Internet and in a slow connection speed. Moreover, the Xinjiang has turned into a laboratory for new censorship tools, which further compress rights and freedoms. Here the infringements affect, besides first generation rights (as in the rest of China), also second generation rights, towards which the government usually shows a great commitment. The result is a censorship that creates two different Internet, thus creating a discrimination between Uighur Chinese and Han Chinese.

About the author

Elisa Bertolini

Assistant Professor of Comparative Law at the Law School Angelo Sraffa, Bocconi University, Milan

References

Antonelli, F. R. 2004. La “Legge sulla legislazione” ed il problema delle fonti nel diritto cinese. Mondo Cinese 119:23.Search in Google Scholar

Aoki, K. 1998. Multiple and Overlapping Sovereignties. Industrial Journal Global Legal Studies 5:443–473.Search in Google Scholar

Balme, S. 2009. Juridicisation du politique et politicisation du juridique dans la Chine des réformes. In La Chine et la démocratie, edited by M. Delmas-Marty and P.-E. Will, 557–617. Paris: Fayard.Search in Google Scholar

Barboza, D., and B. Stone “China, Where U.S. Internet Companies Often Fail,” The New York Times (16-1-2010), at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/technology/16failure.html?pagewanted=all.Search in Google Scholar

Barnwell, B. “Constitutional Law in the People’s Republic of China,” Chinese Law Paper Series Government Law Center of Albany Law School (2011).Search in Google Scholar

Berman, P. S. 2000. Cyberspace and the State Action Debate. University of Colorado Law Review 71:1263–131.Search in Google Scholar

Betz, J., and H.-D. Kübler. 2013. Internet Governance: Wer regiert wie das Internet?. Wiesbaden: Springer.10.1007/978-3-531-19241-3Search in Google Scholar

Biscaretti di Ruffia, P. 1977. La Repubblica Popolare Cinese. Un “modello” nuovo di ordinamento statale socialista (Costituzione del 17 gennaio 1975). Milano: Giuffrè.Search in Google Scholar

Biscaretti di Ruffia, P. 1983. La Costituzione della Repubblica Popolare Cinese del 1982: princìpi generali e ordinamento dello Stato. Mondo Cinese 43:3.Search in Google Scholar

Branigan, T. “China Cut off Internet in Area of Tibetan Unrest,” The Guardian (3-2-2012) at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/03/china-internet-links-tibetan-unrest.Search in Google Scholar

Cabestan, J.-P. 2000. Administrative Law-Making in the People’s Republic of China. In Law-Making in the People’s Republic of China, edited by J. M. Otto, M. V. Polak, J. Chen, and L. Yuwen, 175–188. Leiden: Brill.10.1163/9789004480933_016Search in Google Scholar

Cabestan, J.-P. 2005. The Political and Practical Obstacles to the Reform of the Judiciary and the Establishment of a Rule of Law in China. Journal of Chinese Political Science 1:43–64.10.1142/9789812707284_0008Search in Google Scholar

Cai, D. 1995. Constitutional Supervision and Interpretation in the People’s Republic of China. Journal of Chinese Law 9:219–245.Search in Google Scholar

Cai, D., and C. Wang. 2010. China’s Journey toward the Rule of Law: Legal Reform, 1978-2008. Leiden: Brill.10.1163/ej.9789004184190.i-560Search in Google Scholar

Chen, C. “In Xinjiang, China, Police Have Set up Checkpoints to Ensure that the Government-Mandated “Jingwang” Spyware Is Installed,” Privacy News Online (23-7-2017), at https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2017/07/xinjiang-china-police-set-checkpoints-ensure-government-mandated-jingwang-spyware-installed/Search in Google Scholar

Chen, J. 2015. Chinese Law: Context and Transformation: Revised and Expanded Edition. Leiden: Brill.10.1163/9789004228894Search in Google Scholar

China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), 中国互联网络发展状况统计报告 [The 37th Report on the Development of the Internet in China] (January 2016), at http://www.cnnic.cn/hlwfzyj/hlwxzbg/201601/P020160122469130059846.pdfSearch in Google Scholar

Chiu, H. 1985. The 1982 Chinese Constitution and the Rule of Law. Review of Socialist Law 11:143–160.10.1163/187529885X00106Search in Google Scholar

Cho, Y. N. 2006. “The Politics of Lawmaking in Chinese People’s Congresses.” The China Quarterly 187: 592– 609.10.1017/S0305741006000397Search in Google Scholar

Choukroune, L. 2009. L’accession de la Chine à l’OMC et la réforme juridique; vers un Etat de droit par l’internationalisation sans démocratie. In La Chine et la démocratie, edited by P.-E. Will, 617–655. Paris: Fayard.Search in Google Scholar

Christiansen, F., and S. M. Rai. 2013. Chinese Politics and Society: An Introduction. London: Routledge.10.4324/9781315847405Search in Google Scholar

Cohen, J. A. 1979. China’s Changing Constitution. Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business 1:57–121.10.1017/S0305741000049584Search in Google Scholar

Crespi Reghizzi, G 1999 . “Verso il mercato e lo Stato di diritto: recenti riforme costituzionali in Cina.” Diritto pubblico comparato ed europeo 2: 485– 498.Search in Google Scholar

Davis, M. C. 1998. Constitutionalism and Political Culture; the Debate over Human Rights and Asian Values. Harvard Human Rights Journal 11:109–147.Search in Google Scholar

De Bary, W. T. 1998. Asian Values and Human Rights. A Confucian Communitarian Perspective. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Donnelly, J. 1999. Human Rights and Asian Values: A Defense of “Western Universalism”. In The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights, edited by J. R. Bauer and D. A. Bell, 60–87. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Engle, K. 2000. Culture and Human Rights: The Asian Values Debate in Context. NYU Journal of International Law and Politics 32:291–333.Search in Google Scholar

Fang, N. 2005. Democracy With Chinese Characteristics. Beijing Review 45:18.Search in Google Scholar

Fang, N. 2015. China’s Democracy Path. London: Springer.10.1007/978-3-662-47343-6Search in Google Scholar

Froomkin, A. M. 2011. Almost Free. An Analysis of ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments. Journal on Telecomm & High Technical L 9:187–233.Search in Google Scholar

Gan, N. “Is Google Another Step Closer to Being Unblocked in China?,” South China Morning Post (12-3-2017), at https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/12/is-google-another-step-closer-to-being-unblocked-in-china.html.Search in Google Scholar

Gardner, J. 1976. The Chinese Constitution of 1975. Government and Opposition 11:212–223.10.1111/j.1477-7053.1976.tb00657.xSearch in Google Scholar

Goldman, M. 2005. From Comrade to Citizen. The Struggle for Political Rights in China. Cambridge MA and London: Harvard University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Goldsmith, J. L. 1998. The Internet and the Abiding Significance of Territorial Sovereignty. Industrial Journal Global Legal Studies 5:475–491.10.4324/9781315086392-8Search in Google Scholar

Goldsmith, J. L. 1998. Against Cyberanarchy. University of Chicago Law Review 65:1199–1250.10.2307/1600262Search in Google Scholar

Goldsmith, J. L., and T. Wu. 2006. Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780195152661.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Hayoun, M. “China Is Creating an Unprecedented ‘Security State’ in Xinjiang,” Pacific Standard (23-2-2017), at https://psmag.com/news/china-is-creating-an-unprecedented-security-state-in-xinjiang.Search in Google Scholar

Hazard, J. N. 1975. Soviet Model for Marxian Socialist Constitutions. Cornell Law Review 60:985–1004.Search in Google Scholar

Holbig, H. 2014. China’s Unwritten Constitution: Ideological Implications of a “Non-Ideological” Approach. Asien 132:53–59.Search in Google Scholar

Jihong, M. 2009. The Constitutional Law of the People’s Republic of China and Its Development. Columbia Journal of Asian Law 23:137–184.Search in Google Scholar

Jinghong, X. 2015. Evolving Legal Frameworks for Protecting the Right to Internet Privacy in China. In China and Cybersecurity: Espionage, Strategy, and Politics in the Digital Domain, edited by J. R. Lindsay, T. M. Cheung, and D. S. Reveron, 242–259. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190201265.003.0010Search in Google Scholar

Jizeng, F. 2015. Constitutional Transplant in the People’s Republic of China: The Influence of the Soviet Model and Challenges in the Globalization Era. Brics Law Journal 1:50–100.10.2139/ssrn.2657404Search in Google Scholar

Johnson, D. R., and D. G. Post. 1996. Law and Borders–The Rise of Law in Cyberspace. Stan L Reviews 48:1367–1378.10.2307/1229390Search in Google Scholar

Jones, W. C. 1985. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China. Wash. U. L. Q. 63:707–735.Search in Google Scholar

Kim, C. 1977. The 1975 Constitution of the People’s Republic of China. Hastings International and Comparative Law Review 1:12–27.Search in Google Scholar

Land, M. 2013. Toward an International Law of the Internet. Harvard International Law Journal 54:393–458.Search in Google Scholar

Leiner, B. M. et al. Brief History of the Internet (2012), at http://www.internetsociety.org/sites/default/files/Brief_History_of_the_Internet.pdf.Search in Google Scholar

Lessig, L. 1999. The Law of the Horse: What Cyberlaw Might Teach. Harvard Law Review 113:501–546.10.2307/1342331Search in Google Scholar

Lessig, L. 1999. Open Code and Open Societies: Values of Internet Governance. Chicago-Kent Law Review 74:1405–1420.Search in Google Scholar

Lin, F. 2000. Constitutional Law in China. Hong Kong: Sweet & Maxwell Asia.Search in Google Scholar

Lin, Y. 2015. Constitutional Evolution through Legislation: The Quiet Transformation of China’s Constitution. I•Con 13:61–89.10.1093/icon/mov001Search in Google Scholar

Long, Q. “Man Held in China’s Xinjiang for Downloading ‘Terrorist’ Circumvention Software,” Radio Free Asia (28-10-2016), at http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/software-10282016121811.html.Search in Google Scholar

Maier, B. 2010. How Has the Law Attempted to Tackle the Borderless Nature of the Internet. International Journal of Law and Information Technology 18:142–175.10.1093/ijlit/eaq001Search in Google Scholar

Mayo, J. W. 2013. Evolution of Regulation Twentieth Century Lessons and Twenty-First Century Opportunities. Federal Communications Law Journal 65:119–156.Search in Google Scholar

Mazza, M. 2015. Cina. In Diritto costituzionale comparato, edited by P. Carrozza, A. D. Giovine, and G. F. Ferrari, 663–688. Roma-Bari: Laterza.Search in Google Scholar

Mueller, M., J. Mathiason, and H. Klein. 2007. Internet and Global Governance Principles and Norms for a New Regime. Global Governance 13:237–254.10.1163/19426720-01302007Search in Google Scholar

Peerenboom, R. 2002. China’s Long March toward Rule of Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511493737Search in Google Scholar

Perrit, H. H. 1998. Internet as a Threat to Sovereignty. Industrial Journal Global Legal Studies 5:423–442.Search in Google Scholar

Pierson, D. “Why U.S. Tech Companies Can’t Figure Out China,” Los Angeles Times (1-8-2016), at http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-china-american-tech-20160801-snap-story.html.Search in Google Scholar

Pollicino, O., and M. Bassini Internet Governance in Transnational Law, EU Working Paper RSCAS 2011/24.Search in Google Scholar

Post, D. G. 2002. Against Against Cyberanarchy. Berkeley Technical LJ 17:1365–1387.10.4324/9781315086392-9Search in Google Scholar

Sears, A. 2015. Protecting Freedom of Expression over the Internet: An International Approach. Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law 5:171–200.Search in Google Scholar

Shen, Y. 2000. Conceptions and Receptions of Legality: Understanding the Complexity of Law Reform in China. In The Limits of the Rule of Law in China, edited by K. G. Turner, J. V. Feinerman, and R. K. Guy, 20–44. Washington: University of Washington Press.Search in Google Scholar

Sucher, S. J., and D. Baer. “Yahoo! in China (A)”, Harvard Business School Case 609-051 (February 2009, revised April 2011).Search in Google Scholar

Sulaiman, E. “Police Increase Checks of Uyghur Smartphone Users in Xinjiang,” Radio Free Asia (8-1-2016): at http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/police-increase-checks-of-smartphone-users-in-xinjiang-01082016133532.html.Search in Google Scholar

Thierer, A. D., and C. W. Crews, Jr. 2003. Who Rules the Net? Internet Governance and Jurisdiction. Washington: The Cato Institute.Search in Google Scholar

Wang, D. T. C. 1982. Les sources du droit de la République populaire de Chine. Genève: Droz.10.5771/0506-7286-1983-4-472Search in Google Scholar

Wang, J. 2008. Anti-Circumvention Rules in the Information Network Environment in the US, UK and China: A Comparative Study. Journal of International Commercial Law and Technology 3:55–67.Search in Google Scholar

Weber, R. H., and S. Gunnarson. 2012–2013. Constitutional Solution for Internet Governance. Colum Sciences & Technical L Reviews 14:1–71.Search in Google Scholar

Zhai, Z. 2016. The Making and Structure of the 1982 Constitution of China. Tsinghua China Law Review 8:141–169.Search in Google Scholar

Zhang, Q. 2012. The Constitution of China. A Contextual Analysis. Oxford and Portland: Hart.10.5040/9781509955701Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2017-11-15

© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 24.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/gj-2017-0018/html
Scroll to top button