Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief.

The highlights this week: China considers a sweeping cybercrime law, a date is set for a summit between Trump and Xi, and a plagiarism scandal rocks the Chinese literary scene.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief.

The highlights this week: China considers a sweeping cybercrime law, a date is set for a summit between Trump and Xi, and a plagiarism scandal rocks the Chinese literary scene.

Sign up to receive China Brief in your inbox every Tuesday.

Sign up to receive China Brief in your inbox every Tuesday.

Sign up to receive China Brief in your inbox every Tuesday.

By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.

China Mulls Cybercrime Reform

After changes to existing cybersecurity laws came into effect last month, China is considering sweeping new cybercrime legislation aimed at further tightening the country’s online environment. (As ever, I am indebted to Yale University’s China Law Translate project for drawing my attention to this.)

Since the early 2000s, China has managed the difficult task of maintaining a closed, highly monitored internet that serves the country economically without threatening it politically. Though Westerners often focus on the Great Firewall as China’s primary means of limiting access to the outside world, its system of censorship and control is far more complicated.

China’s primary focus is not on restricting access to foreign content but on containing the spread of information within its borders and restricting users’ ability to organize collectively online. These objectives became even more important after the Arab Spring and were taken up with alacrity by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

One key development was comprehensive real-name registration rules, requiring users to link their online accounts to their name and national ID........

© Foreign Policy