Prez Xi says won’t close doors of web, ideologue calls for tight control

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday the country will not close its door to the global internet, but that cyber sovereignty is key in its vision of internet development. Xi’s comments were read by Huang Kunming, head of the Chinese Communist Party's publicity department at the country's largest public cyber policy forum in the town of Wuzhen in eastern China. "The development of China's cyberspace is entering a fast lane...China's doors will only become more and more open," said Xi in the note. Cyber sovereignty is the idea that states should be permitted to manage and contain their own internet without external interference. Later on Sunday, a little heard from but hugely influential, the professor turned Communist theoretician who has been a major advisor to three Chinese leaders finally stepped out of the shadows on Sunday. Known as the brain behind President Xi Jinping, Wang Huning made his first major speech since joining the Politburo Standing Committee at a conference created to show off China’s technological strengths to the world. Wang emphasised on China’s technological prowess, and said more should be done by the government to guide the development of new industries.