HANGZHOU, China, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- China is considering the encouragement of a global codification of Internet rules, Premier Li Keqiang told business leaders at a Hangzhou, China, conference.
Addressing the three-day World Internet Conference, Li called for "an interconnected world that is shared and governed by all, and to construct a common code of rules to make competition more fair."
"Dynamics and order are the two faces of the Internet. Without dynamics, the Internet will lose its vitality, while without order, the Internet is not secure... As the cyberworld is bound to be shared by everyone, it should also be governed by all of us. I refer to both laws and self-discipline."
The conference was attended more by Chinese business leaders than by global Internet developers, the website Quartz noted. But Li's remarks indicated China, a country noted for vigorous internal Internet censorship and the silencing on online bloggers and commentators, seeks to involve itself in global Internet policy.
Wu Lei, head of China's State Information Office, told the World Economic Forum, meeting in September in Tianjin, governments should devise a blueprint to arrange the "kind of Internet governance we want to have."
China's recent Internet actions have included bans on reporting and comment on Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, and what some regard as a brief and public flirtation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the wife of Chinese president Xi Jinping at a Beijing conference, earlier this month.
