China's Power Hunger

China’s Power Problem

I read an article entitled “Chinese censorship costing U.S. tech firms billions in revenue.” It discussed how China’s Great Firewall was impacting not only Chinese citizens but also nations around the world. There is also a discussion on the change in viewpoints of U.S firms from thinking the Great Firewall wouldn’t last long to now believing this will be the way China handles its policies forever.

With this case study I wanted to compare China’s networked authoritarian system to their continual need to be seen as powerful. In Rebecca MacKinnon’s article, “China’s Networked Authoritarianism” she describes this state as a “single ruling party…in control while a wide range of conversations about the country’s problems nonetheless occurs on websites and social-networking services” (MacKinnon 33). I believe this is what is happening in China. China is allowing its citizens to speak online through sites like Sina Weibo and Renren, however, they will censor them down whenever they feel threatened. China gives their citizens the illusion of being able to speak freely when in reality they are in control of everything said online.

In looking closer at China as a networked authoritarian state, the key word in the definition above is control. China allows its citizens to talk online and produce content, however, they are there standing over them controlling everything posted whether it be to censor it or completely delete it. Further she points out that in this state, and in China, “those whom the rulers see as threats are jailed; truly competitive, free, and fair elections are not held; and the courts and the legal system are tools of the ruling party” (MacKinnon 33).

Now in taking the power China holds over its citizens, the article by Julie Makinen reflects this same power. Through their censorship, China has blocked out a lot of U.S tech firms. Makinen highlights that “censorship shuts out the [United States’] tech giants — Google,...