China’s Grand Proposal: Let Us Be Responsible for Protecting Your Data

You probably don’t know it, but many data you regard as deeply personal about your Internet use, your phone calls, your social media activities, and even your pictures may be stored in China. It is cheaper for international companies, and it is mandatory if this companies are Chinese, as is the one owning TikTok.

The problem is, to put it bluntly, does this mean that Xi Jinping may access your data? He is probably not interested in your children’s birthday pictures, but if you are a critic of China or a Chinese dissident living abroad there are many information you would prefer not to share with Uncle Xi.

ByteDance, the company owning TikTok, is spending millions in trying to persuade American politicians that storing data in China is safe. However, China’s own laws say otherwise, and the problem goes well beyond TikTok.

On November 20, China released the “Global Cross-border Data Flow Cooperation Initiative” at the 2024 World Internet Conference held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang. It was announced with great fanfare and a video message by Xi Jinping himself. However, this year’s World Internet Conference was less successful than the precedent editions held in China. Chinese media listed as the main VIPs in attendance the Vice Presidents of Honduras and Zambia and the Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam. Some large international corporations did exhibit at the parallel Light of Internet Expo, but this was different from the conference.

The fact is, the world does not trust China when it comes to data security. The Global Initiative tries to reassure foreigners that China does respect data privacy, but there are always the exceptions mentioned in the National Intelligence Law and National Security Law. Basically, Chinese authorities can access any data they believe they need for their national security. And the concept of national security in China is broad indeed.

Xi Jinping went beyond this. The conference clarified his aim is to position China at “the top cyber regulator in the field of global data governance.” This is, of course, a political statement, and one listened to mostly by Arab and African countries whose regimes want to break free from the annoying Western protection of data privacy.

China’s aim is not only storing data for the world but persuading as many countries as possible that governments can access them to protect their “national security”—which includes harassing dissidents at home and abroad.