The Peoples Republic of China cast a pall over the consultations of the Internet Governance Forum yesterday by announcing that it opposes extending the life of the Forum for another 5 years. “When it comes to Internet governance, [developing country] points of view are not sufficiently reflected in [Internet Governance Forum] discussions,” China's representative said, “which is why we don't agree that the IGF should continue its mandate after the five years are up. So we repeat that the delegation of China does not agree with extending the mission of the IGF beyond the five years. We feel that after the five years are up, we would need to look at the results that have been achieved. And we need, then, to launch into an intergovernmental discussion.” China's preference for intergovernmental forums where it has a more prominent and exclusive role, such as the ITU, is well known, however up to now it has never publicly opposed extending the term of the IGF.

1 thought on “China ready to pull the plug on IGF

  1. agree, if it keeps being dominated by someone, as it's simply not multi-stake-holderism; at least to the developing, it's not.

Comments are closed.