By: Dr. Yang Jianli, Harvard Fellow, President Initiatives for China.
(Update: Dr. Yang Jianli has just returned from an extended overseas trip during which he co-chaired the Human Rights and Democracy Summit Committee on Internet Freedom in Geneva Switzerland. The Geneva Committee drafted a Statement on Internet freedom, which was unanimously adopted by the Summit. While in Geneva, Dr. Yang also had extended discussions with the Google representative who also participated in the Summit. Following is a Statement by Dr. Yang Regarding the situation with Google and the Chinese Government.)
Google’s decision to stop censoring its search content in China has surfaced a seismic fault line between two world views of freedom and social progress. For some time now, Google, as the world’s most free and powerful search engine, has made tremendous contributions toward bringing the word community closer together through the sharing of ideas and information uniformly and instantaneously around the world. Through websites such as www.globalnetworkinitiative.org, Google promotes the fundamental principles of freedom of expression and individual privacy that lie at the heart of this information super highway. Google has also stood against unreasonable governmental restrictions and protected the principles of basic human rights.
At the beginning of March, Google sent a representative to the 2nd Geneva summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy. At the Summit, Initiatives for China worked with Google and other conference participants in the drafting of The Declaration of Internet Freedom, which was unanimously adopted by the Summit delegates and encourages the United Nations and other international organizations to proactively push for Internet freedom, starting beginning with their own organizational structures. Initiatives for China is committed to continuing this effort toward encouraging the international community to take actions against unreasonable censorship of the Internet by autocratic nations, as well as to urge more companies to follow Google’s leadership in safeguarding Internet freedom.
In the words of American management guru, Peter Drucker, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Initiatives for China applauds Google’s courageous leadership and sound business management. Freedom of expression and information are the foundations of a progressive and stable society. These foundations must be protected whenever and wherever they are compromised. In online world of the 21st Century there are no national borders. Everyone who values freedom must seek to dislodge it wherever it is blocked. There can be no going back. We must work assiduously to bridge this fault line between the free flow of information that produces progress and harmony, and information control that fosters hatred and conflict . With the experience of history and confidence for the future, Initiatives for China strongly asserts that freedom will prevail.