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doing so, they not only become subject to the restrictions on Chinese technology users, but they also help to legitimize China’s vision for “cyber-sovereignty,” an issue that has become an important ongoing global governance debate. In some cases, they may even be inadvertently advancing China’s goals for military technological superiority. American technology CEOs, including those from Google, Apple, and Cisco, are prominent attendees at the World Internet Conference. At one installment of the conference, a Chinese antiterrorism expert argued that Beijing should increase its pressure on foreign internet companies such as Twitter, which he argued should be punished for tweets that “defame the party, Chinese leaders, and related national strategies.” Facebook has been notably solicitous of the Chinese government in an effort to enter the Chinese market, reportedly developing a tool that could be used by a third party to censor content. Despite being blocked in China, Facebook nonetheless generates significant advertising revenues from Chinese companies seeking to reach foreign consumers. As it seeks to reenter the Chinese market, Google’s willingness to facilitate that country’s national artificial intelligence priorities stand in contrast to its decision to end limited AI cooperation with the US Department of Defense. In June 2018, Tsinghua announced that Google’s AI chief would serve as an adviser to that university’s new center for artificial intelligence research. The company is already involved in research at Peking University and the University of Science and Technology of China, among others. Artificial intelligence is a declared strategic priority for the Chinese government with significant military implications. The Chinese government is actively coordinating the efforts of not just its universities, but also nominally private companies such as Baidu. Commenting on Google’s AI China Center, at which several hundred engineers are employed, former deputy defense secretary Bob Work has stated, “anything that’s going on in that center is going to be used” by the Chinese military. In the summer of 2018, it was reported that Google was considering reentering the Chinese market with a censored search engine, but Chinese government officials have discounted the prospect and many of Google’s own employees have expressed opposition.

China also seeks to enlist foreign corporations to reinforce its so-called “core interests” in ways that have influenced what they feel comfortable saying even outside of China. In early 2018, for example, foreign companies, particularly in the travel industry, were targeted for listing Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and Tibet as separate entities on their websites rather than as sovereign parts of China. The Civil Aviation Administration of China sent letters to international airlines demanding that any references to these destinations except as part of China be removed from their materials and websites. In May, the Trump administration declared the Chinese government’s order to airlines to be “Orwellian nonsense and part of a growing trend by the Chinese Communist Party to impose its political views on American citizens and private companies” with which they might not necessarily agree. At the direction of the American government, the airlines initially and collectively declined to follow Beijing’s orders, as the US government considered the issue a diplomatic matter to be resolved between governments. However, when China declined to negotiate with the US government over the issue, by July the airlines partially met Beijing’s demands by referring only to cities.

Targeting foreign companies’ speech extends beyond Taiwan to China’s fraught relationship with its ethnic minorities. At Marriott, an employee responsible for managing the company’s social media accounts unwittingly liked a tweet by a pro-Tibet group and was fired as a result of the backlash. The company’s website and app were blocked in China for one week, at unknown financial cost. Daimler, the German car manufacturer, was similarly forced to apologize for posting a reference to the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, on social media. In the latter two cases, the companies were targeted even though the social services on which they were posting were blocked inside China. See Martina, Michael. “Exclusive: In China, the Party’s Push for Influence inside Foreign . . .” Reuters. August 24, 2017. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-congress-companies/exclusive-in-china-the-partys-push-for-influence-inside-foreign-firms-stirs-fears-idUSKCN1B40JU; Wong, Chun Han, and Eva Dou. “Foreign Companies in China Get a New Partner: The Communist Party.” Wall Street Journal. October 29, 2017. https://www.wsj.com/articles/foreign-companies-in-china-get-a-new-partner-the-communist-party-1509297523; “Command and Control: China’s Communist Party Extends Reach into Foreign Companies.” Washington Post. Denyer, Simon. January 28, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/command-and-control

Corporations

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