Conceptualising Cyber Sovereignty And Information Security : China’s Image Of A Global Cyber Order

Cyber sovereignty means that states have authority within a fixed boundary to devise rules, laws, and norms about behaviour of individuals, institutions, applications, and other actors and factors in the cyberspace. This idea is intrinsically associated with information security propagated by China, which is a broader concept and is not only limited to defending networks, computers, and confidentiality – dealt by the Western idea of cyber security – but also includes controlling and filtering content in the cyberspace and the communication tools, especially the ones that may damage the government and create schisms in the society. China’s ultimate objective remains to try to establish a multilateral global cyber order – within the ambit of rule of law – based upon nationalised cyberspace, mutual respect, non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, cyber sovereignty, and mutual honour. An order based upon the principles of equality and justice where every state, small or big, will be having fair share in the management of the cyberspace. This is an exploratory and explanatory study conducted using content analysis in which data is drawn from primary and secondary sources. It tries to conceptualise the idea of China’s cyber sovereignty and notes that how is China utilising it to make the cyberspace in its image and develop a global cyber order – in stark contrast to the Western and US image of the cyber order