ABSTRACT
For millennia, China’s walls and gates have enabled those in power to control access and keep undesirables out. The present government officially calls itself the cyberspace gatekeeper, controlling the information flow both into and out of China. The government says its gatekeeper role is essential to maintaining national security and domestic stability. But China’s emergence as a world economic power coincides with the globalization of communications networks and the rapid development of information technology. The digitalized information superhighway is revolutionizing the way that economic actors interact with one another and exchange information, and China’s leaders are faced with a dilemma: how to exploit the economic development potential of the new information technology while controlling its dissemination.
