ACROSS THE GREAT (FIRE) WALL: CHINA AND THE GLOBAL INTERNET BY HONG SHEN DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communications in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2017 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor John Nerone, Chair Professor Dan Schiller, Director of Research Associate Professor Anita Say Chan Assistant Professor Amanda Ciafone Professor Yuezhi Zhao, Simon Fraser University ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the multifaceted interactions between China and the global Internet in the past three decades, especially China’s outward cyber expansion, or the “going out” program that has gained momentum since the mid-2000s, and explores the changing social class relations that accompany and shape this evolution. It offers a political economic analysis of how units of Internet capital and state agencies in China are impinging on the international Internet system. It also investigates both the structure and agency of Chinese Internet capital by examining the rise of an Internet capitalist class fraction in China and its intricate relationships with both the state and other transnational capitalists. Based on intensive research into both primary and secondary data sources, this dissertation shows that instead of being confined to a repressive inward-looking national “intranet,” China in fact has actively engaged with the political economy of the global Internet since the 1980s – and is now increasingly projecting power outward in this sphere. Conceptualizing the Chinese Internet industry as an expansive sector that encompasses hardware and equipment vendors, network operators, web services and applications providers, as well as major government and corporate network users, this dissertation unpacks the complex and dynamic state-capital interactions that characterize these different industrial subsectors. It argues that, although the state has retained some critical maneuvering room over its internet capital in the construction of an International Internet “with Chinese characteristics,” the complex and often contradictory interplay between the territorial logic of the state and the expansive logic of capitalist accumulation, and between the structure and agency of Chinese Internet capital, continue to create tensions and conflicts. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENT The most difficult part of this dissertation is to find appropriate expression to convey my deep gratitude to my committee members. Dan Schiller, my director of research, is simply the best advisor that any doctoral student could wish for. This dissertation was formulated by numerous conversations that I had with Dan on China’s Internet industry and policy. I would also like to thank John Nerone, my committee chair, for being an indispensable source of sage guidance and warm encouragement over the years I have spent at ICR; Yuezhi Zhao, for motivating me to look at the class dimension of China’s Internet and for reminding me that there always exists the possibility to build an alternative one; Anita Say Chan, for offering important insights to my work from a STS perspective; and Amanda Ciafone, for always giving me her time and advice with generosity. I am also grateful for the guidance and friendship of a long list of mentors, colleagues, and friends at Illinois, including (but not limited to): Meijiadai Bai, Martina Baldwin, Wei-fen Chen, Wenrui Chen, CL Cole, Dong Han, James Hay, Yu Hong, Jennifer Ihm, Yang Jiao, Ran Ju, Alicia Kozma, Angela Ke Li, Nina Luzhou Li, Chunfeng Lin, Shantel Marinez, Rich Martin, Bob McChesney, Kent Ono, Ann Reisner, Arnau Roig-Mora, Inger Stole, Min Tang, Anghy Valdivia, Kerry Wilson and Gunwoo Yoon. Finally, this dissertation would not be possible without the love of my family. I thank my parents, Yaomin Shen and Yongli Ying, and my in-laws, Gang Ma and Shouzhen Wang, for their unwavering support; my partner Jian Ma for his unconditional patience; and my daughter, Sophie, for her curiosity and genuine love of the world around her. It is to her this dissertation is dedicated. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT ............................................................................................................... iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 REPOSITIONING THE CHINESE INTERNET IN GLOBAL DIGITAL CAPITALISM .............................................................................................................................. 34 CHAPTER 2 BEYOND CYBER SOVEREIGNTY? CHINA AND GLOBAL INTERNET GOVERNANCE .......................................................................................................................... 78 CHAPTER 3 TOWARD THE “EXTERNAL” INTERNET: THE “GOING OUT” OF CHINA’S INTERNET INDUSTRY ............................................................................................................ 116 CHAPTER 4 “THE COMMUNISTS JUST BEAT US AT CAPITALISM”? THE “INTERNATIONALIZATION” OF ALIBABA ....................................................................... 167 CHAPTER 5 THE RISE OF THE INTERNET CAPITALIST CLASS FRACTION IN CHINA ..................................................................................................................................................... 211 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 254 BIBLIOGRAPHY [BOOKS AND PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS] ..................................... 266 APPENDIX A: OFDI BY CHINESE INTERNET FIRMS (2005-2015) .................................. 277 APPENDIX B: INTERNET ELITES IN 20 MAJOR CHINESE INTERNET FIRMS (2015) . 283 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 3G third generation telecommunications network ACFIC All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce CAC Cyberspace Administration of China CAS Chinese Academy of Sciences CCF China-China-Foreign joint venture CCIA China Cultural Industry Association ccTLD country code top-level domain CDB China Development Bank CDMA Code Division Multiple Access CEC China Electronics Corporation CERNET China Education and Research Network CETC China Electronic Technology Corporation CNNIC China Internet Network Information Center CPC Chinese Communist Party CPPCC Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference DNS domain name system Exim China Export-Import Bank FDI foreign direct investment OFDI outward foreign direct investment gTLD generic top-level domain v IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers IETF Internet Engineering Task Force IGF Internet Governance Forum IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6 ISO International Standardization Organization ISOC Internet Society ITU International Telecommunication Union MEI Ministry of Electronic Industry MFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs MII Ministry of Information Industry MIIT Ministry of Industry and Information Technology MOFCOM Ministry of Commerce MOF Ministry of Finance MPT Ministry of Post and Telecommunications NDRC National Development and Reform Commission NPC National People’s Congress OFDI outward foreign direct investment PC People’s Congress PLA People’s Liberation Army PPCC People's Political Consultative Conference PRC People’s Republic of China vi R&D research and development RFC Request for Comments RMB renminbi SAFE State Administration for Foreign Exchange SAIC State Administration of Industry and Commerce SASAC State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission SCIO State Council Information Office SIIO State Internet Information Office SLGI State Leading Group for Informatization SOE state-owned enterprise TD-SCDMA Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development VIE Variable Interest Entity WSIS World Summit on the Information Society WTO World Trade Organization vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: An inclusive approach toward China’s Internet industry. .......................................... 41 Figure 1.2: The CCF structure. ..................................................................................................... 51 Figure 1.3: The VIE structure. ...................................................................................................... 55 Figure 2.1: An alternative analytical framework for China and global Internet governance. ...... 85 Figure 3.1: China's Outward FDI 2000-2015 (USD billions). .................................................... 127 Figure 3.2: China's Internet OFDI regime. ................................................................................. 134 Figure 4.1: The simplified corporate structure of Alibaba Group. ............................................. 176 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: RFCs led or participated by China (1996-2009) .......................................................... 94 Table 3.1: Numbers of OFDI deals attempted by China’s Internet companies (2005-2015) ..... 132 Table 4.1: The main shareholders of Alibaba ............................................................................