China’s Plans for a Safe Internet

In 2008 the Ministry of Science and Technology initiated a special project to develop fault-tolerant high-end host computers under the National High-tech R&D Program. In 2013 Inspur Group unveiled the Tiansuo K1 system, making China the third country after the U.S. and Japan to master the latest host computer technologies. On the basis of Tiansuo K1 the industrial alliance of home-made computer systems took shape, transforming a technological breakthrough into industrial advances. This ushers in a new era of China’s informatization where the country takes the technologies of core equipment into its own hands.

“Formerly China imported mainframes for key applications. Now the vacuum is filled by the Tiansuo K1, which is of supreme importance to China’s economic and information security,” said Ni Guangnan, computer scientist at the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Yang Xianwu, deputy director general of the High-Tech Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology, also hailed the Tiansuo K1, saying that it broke the foreign monopoly of core IT equipment and reversed China’s passive position in information technology.

“In the realm of technologies and products supporting Internet security, China has made substantial achievements over recent years. For instance, we have made headway in applying high-end servers, routers, exchanges, storage and domestic-made integrated software,” said CSIP chief Qiu Shanqin. With 44.79 percent of telecom network equipment domestically manufactured and more than half of key control systems supplied by Chinese brands, China now has a solid technological and industrial foundation for handling problems related to Internet security, Mr. Qiu added.

Despite these impressive innovations, China is still far away from the goal set by President Xi Jinping – technologically developed, industrially advanced, safe and reliable, independent and free of external restrictions. In the opinion of Digital China Holdings Limited Chairman and CEO Guo Wei, in addition to independent innovation, China also should actively take part in the formulation of international Internet standards and rules, reversing its passive position on this issue, and increasing its voice over the establishment of the global order of the Internet. This can give China better protection over its Internet sovereignty.

With the advent of 4G networks, information security over the mobile Internet is drawing public attention. The number of Chinese mobile phone users has skyrocketed since 2006, exceeding 1.2 billion in 2013. And most of them browse on smart phones. Wu Hequan believes that the security threat is greater for mobile gadgets than desk computers. To date there are more than 3,000 viruses and 50,000 malware applications targeting smart phones, which, due to their smaller capacity, cannot carry the same level of anti-virus protection as a desktop computer.

Meanwhile, cloud computing and the big data industries that arise with it have incubated a sweeping global technological revolution. An enclosure movement is underway across the world in the construction of cloud computing infrastructures and acquisition of the massive data on the Internet, which are strategic in various countries’ contention for control of the future information society.

China’s self-reliant innovation is a long tedious journey. It is predictable that the Chinese government will increase input into information security and ramp up the domestic efforts in information security-related products. This will open fresh growth opportunities for IT manufacturers ranging from CPU and server to network, storage, and mobile equipment.

The government is tightening control over the Internet, and expediting legislation for this purpose.