China and Russia will sign a treaty aimed at combating illegal internet content this month, Russia’s state communications regulator said on Tuesday. Roskomnadzor, the Russian watchdog, said it would sign the agreement with its Chinese counterpart on October 20. It said the agreement would have the status of an international treaty. The town of Wuzhen, in eastern Zhejiang province, will host the World Internet Conference between October 20 and 22. Internet controls have tightened in Russia under President Vladimir Putin and in China under President Xi Jinping. In July, a delegation from the Cyberspace Administration of China, which oversees national cybersecurity policy, met officials from Roskomnadzor in Moscow. The Kremlin said last week the two powers had a special relationship. Moscow’s ties with Beijing have been marked by wariness in the past, and some in Russia were concerned about Chinese influence in the country’s sparsely populated mineral-rich east. Russia and China share a 4,200 kilometre (2,600 mile) border. But Moscow pivoted towards China after its ties with the West plunged to post-cold war lows over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea in Ukraine. Trade ties with China have since expanded and cooperation has embraced more sensitive areas. Could China’s strict cyber controls gain international acceptance? Last week, Putin said Russia was helping China build an early warning system to detect intercontinental ballistic missile launches, something only Russia and the United States possess.
