The 2024 World Internet Conference opened in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province on November 20th. Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of security in his speech. Despite this, many Chinese netizens have criticized this year’s conference on overseas social media platforms. Some have mockingly said, “A rogue without internet freedom hosting a cyber summit – how ironic?”
According to the official arrangement of the conference, Xi Jinping delivered his speech through a video message, while Chinese State Council Vice Premier Ding Xuxiang delivered a keynote speech. Foreign dignitaries who spoke at the conference included the Vice Presidents of Honduras and Zambia, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam.
Xi Jinping, in his video speech, mentioned that new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) are reshaping the world and also bringing unpredictable risks and challenges. He stressed the need to make cybersecurity the bottom line.
Notably, Lei Jun was the only Chinese tech company executive who spoke at the conference.
Compared to previous years where numerous business tycoons and foreign dignitaries gathered in Wuzhen, this year’s conference seemed less vibrant according to official reports.
Regarding the World Internet Conference, mainland Chinese social media platforms under censorship mostly displayed official “mainstream” voices, while various critical voices were prominent on free overseas social media platforms.
On Platform X, many Chinese netizens expressed their thoughts: “A country without a world internet hosting a world internet conference.” “A rogue without internet freedom hosting a cyber summit – how ironic?” “Building walls while holding a world internet conference, can you find a more contradictory political party than the CCP?”
“This is just self-deception, even fooling oneself! Setting up a local area network with an internet title – how deceiving!” “The World Internet Conference in CCP China is a big joke, just like the internet in CCP China which, like the common people there, cannot go beyond the national borders. It is completely a local network and dares to hold such international conferences, without fearing the ridicule of the international community.”
“The current enthusiasm for the internet conference is dwindling. In the past, e-commerce professionals would attend, and tickets cost over ten thousand, but now no one goes.”
“Xi Jinping dares not participate in such activities in non-core cities domestically because the event dates are fixed, and the security forces in those cities are insufficient, with a probability of assassination. There is not even a live stream, just recorded videos.”
Public records indicate that the World Internet Conference is a large-scale event organized by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Zhejiang Provincial Government, held annually in Wuzhen. This year marks the 11th edition.
To ensure the smooth progress of the inaugural conference, the Chinese authorities temporarily suspended internet control measures on the exclusive wireless network “iWifi-Wuzhen” in Wuzhen. Through this WiFi network, guests, journalists, and even ordinary visitors in Wuzhen could access websites like Facebook and Twitter, which are blocked by the Great Firewall. The temporary lifting of these internet control measures ceased with the conclusion of the conference.
During the second conference, Wuzhen was under comprehensive “martial law” with armored vehicles from the Chinese Nanjing Military Region stationed in Wuzhen. Every 500 meters had armed police and officers on patrol, ready to block roads if necessary.
Some internet freedom organizations and human rights groups criticized the conference as a platform for the Chinese authorities to lobby and promote its internet control policies, including censorship and surveillance, to the world.