Chinese President Xi Jinping has defended China’s right to impose its own regulations on the Internet at a meeting with top US technology business leaders at Microsoft’s headquarters near Seattle, according to news reports.
Apparently responding to US and Silicon Valley criticism of China’s Internet censorship, Xi told chief executives including Apple’s Tim Cook and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg that countries should align Internet policy “with their national realities.”
Chinese censorship of news and social networking sites and demands that foreign Internet companies turn over user information to Chinese authorities have been major sticking points with the US officials.
In remarks to a group of 30 top Internet executives from the US and China near the end of the US-China Internet Industry Forum, Xi underscored the country’s commitment to a secure Internet.
“A secure, stable and prosperous cyberspace is of great significance to the world,” he said. The US and China should work toward that goal together, the Seattle Times reported.
The high-level hobnob capped the second day of Xi’s stopover in Seattle, a visit devoted to showcasing China’s business ties with the US.
Xi earlier toured Boeing’s factory in Everett, Washington, as the US airplane manufacturer announced a series of new deals with China for aircraft orders, a new aircraft completion centre and co-operation on manufacturing and biofuel research.
Chinese airlines and leasing companies will buy 250 Boeing 737s and 50 widebody jets, for a total list price US$38bn — about $19bn after standard industry discounts, the Seattle Times reported.
Boeing also announced it would partner with China’s Commercial Aircraft Corporation to build a 737 aircraft completion centre in China.
Xi’s agenda in Seattle has emphasised US-China business ties at a time when diplomatic relations between the two superpowers are strained over issues including the Chinese economy, cybercrime and sabre-rattling in the South and East China Sea.
The topics are likely to come up when Xi travels to Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama on Thursday.
From the US capital, he is due to travel to New York, where he will address the UN general assembly on Monday. — DPA
