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China and the Internet: Recent Developments Volume 5, No. 1 DW Choy DW Choy is a Senior Research Assistant in the Centre for Chinese and Comparative Law at the City University of Hong Kong. This paper discusses the expanding application of the Internet in China in the commercial sphere and in government administration, as well as Chinas newer Internet control mechanisms over the past three to four years. It concludes by noting that, in dealing with the Internet, China is trying to maintain its traditional attitude towards new technologies, which is to use such technologies to strengthen the power of the state and to enhance economic prosperity on the one hand, while avoiding (or at least minimising) 'negative' political impacts on the other. However, it is argued that economic and political development (and information flow) are, in fact, interrelated, and so the Chinese government cannot hope, over any substantial time frame, to continue to extract the highest economic benefits from an expansion of the Internet without also tolerating its political impact to a much greater extent than it does at present. |