China, Internet Governance and the Global Public Interest

International audienceSince the end of the 1970s, a widespread belief in the economic, social and political benefits of the " information society " encouraged many countries, including China, to invest massively in the development of telecommunications. Nowadays the internet has become an essential part of daily life for almost half of the world's – and China's – population. It has become a key facilitator in maintaining social networks, finding a job, using public services, accessing useful information, or simply enjoying popular entertainment. Because it is so ubiquitous, there is now a sense that not having access to the internet is a form of exclusion, and some even wonder whether internet access may be considered a human right. While there is consensus on the general idea that the internet bears a character of public interest, there is much less convergence on the particular implications of this idea. As half of the world's population still does not have internet access, the idea that access is a right is quite problematic, as well as the question of who should bear the costs of universal access, and how to rebalance the uneven distribution of infrastructure, technology, contents and digital literacy. How to regulate activities online is also a matter of controversy, as economic and political interests diverge, as well as normative preferences. This is further complicated by the great number of layers that the internet is composed of, and therefore the great number of actors implicated in making and managing it. In this chapter I will describe the main components of global internet governance, and highlight some of the questions it raises in terms of global public interest. I will then discuss the increasingly important role China has played in this framework so far and highlight how the Chinese case points to democratic cracks in the current internet governance system