04 Jun 2020 Tear Down China’s Firewall
China’s greatest wall is not the one made of stone. It’s the Internet firewall that the repressive communist government uses to suppress free speech and the flow of information.
The National Center has joined the Conservative Action Project and others in a coalition letter telling the Trump Administration that “[a]s the U.S. seeks to challenge Chinese dominance, breaking through these firewalls will be of critical importance.”
The letter, signed by National Center General Counsel Justin Danhof, Esq., notes that Chinese firewalls:
- Block content
- Monitor use and browsing history
- Allow government dissemination of lies
- Promote censorship
It further states that Chinese government abuse turns the Internet into “a repressive information and mind control system.”
The coalition letter specifically recommends:
As the U.S. coalesces around a more robust response to China, confronting their Internet firewall must place a key role. The Secretary of State should use his authority, granted to him by Congress in Sec. 7050 of the State Department’s appropriations act, to partner with the private sector to develop technologies and initiatives aimed at cracking China’s firewall.
The U.S. should also seek to leverage our trade relationship with China to require a freer and more transparent Internet.
In addition to Justin, the letter was signed by former Reagan Administration cabinet members Edwin Meese III (attorney general), Donald Paul Hodel (Interior and Energy) and James C. Miller (Office of Management and Budget); former congressmen Bob McEwen (Ohio) and David McIntosh (Indiana) and former senator Jim DeMint; and organization leaders including Ron Robinson of Young America’s Foundation (and National Center’s board), E.W. Jackson, Sr. of the STAND Foundation (and Project 21), Bob Carlstrom of AMAC Action, J. Christian Adams of the Public Interest Legal Foundation and Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association.
Click here to read the letter in its entirety.