Internet sovereignty critical to national sovereignty: expert

A Chinese military expert has defended the new National Security Law on Internet sovereignty protection, warning that a nation without Internet sovereignty may be plunged to chaos.

In an op-ed published by Friday's China Youth Daily, Ye Zheng, an expert with the Academy of Military Science of the People's Liberation Army, said the scope of national sovereignty has been expanding over the years, first from land, then to the sea, sky, outer space, and now Internet.

Though some Western countries did not agree with the concept when China first proposed it a few years ago, it now has gained a foothold in the international community, said the op-ed.

With the Internet becoming more intertwined with all aspects of society, such as economy, politics, culture, transportation and people's social life, the risk of disastrous consequences increase should it ever get out of control, it added.

But compared with conventional military attacks, cyber warfare has not attracted sufficient attention yet, it said, citing the ignorance behind a series of malicious attacks, called "Stuxnet", on Iran's nuclear facilities and Edward Snowden's whistleblowing of the massive wiretapping project of the United States.

Aside from legislation on Internet sovereignty, argued Ye, China also needs to clarify the Internet code of conduct for countries and individuals. "We must resist and fight back any infringement of the Internet sovereignty," said Ye.

"The public should realize they must defend Internet sovereignty in the same way they defend the land, the sea, the sky and the outer space," it said.

The article was in response to China's National Security Law which went into effect on July 1 and the national legislature published a draft cyber security law seeking public opinion this week. Endi