China risks being left behind unless it builds a web that's open to all
Anne Jellema says a freer, more accessible internet can serve China in many ways, not least by making it more competitive and innovative, the key to achieving its 'Chinese Dream'
Last month saw the launch of this year's World Wide Web Foundation annual Web Index report, which is the world's first measure of the web's contribution to social, economic and political development in 81 countries.
Sweden topped the rankings, ahead of Norway. South Korea, at No 10, was the highest-placed Asian country.
China, however, is being fast outpaced - even by smaller countries such as Costa Rica, Colombia and the Philippines - in harnessing the web to accelerate development and innovation. Ranking 57, it is the country that World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee identified as showing the most room for improvement.
There are two main issues China must address to improve its performance and remain competitive in a fast-digitising world. First, China needs to do much more to make the internet affordable and accessible for everyone.
In the Web Index category that measures whether countries have invested in affordable access to high-quality internet infrastructure, as well as investing in the education and skills citizens need to use the web well, China is placed above countries such as Saudi Arabia, India, Indonesia and Morocco.
However, for the 359 million Chinese citizens who live on US$2 a day or less, access to mobile or fixed broadband is out of reach - costing between 25 per cent and 38 per cent of their monthly income.
Second, China must deal with the challenge of privacy and freedom online. The Web Index report found that China censors web content extensively and has no meaningful safeguards against online spying by security agencies.