Over the last year, the government has been implementing new cyber rules and regulating internet activity. They insist that foreign companies store their data locally in China. They also insist that companies ban VPNs or any software that aids citizens in bypassing firewalls to access banned websites.
The director General of the Bureau of International Cooperation at the Cyberspace Administration of China, Qi Xiaoxia, has said regarding facebook and google that “If they want to come back, we welcome [them]. The condition is that they have to abide by Chinese law and regulations. That is the bottom line. And also that they would not do any harm to Chinese national security and national consumers’ interests.”
This means that Chinese citizens’ rights of expression and right of speech are completely ensured (although it is unclear where this count of 5 million came from). The Chinese government are of the idea that cyberspace should not be ungoverned, and that it should be supervised and managed in accordance with Chinese law.
Apple already operates in China, under the strict censorship rules that are enforced.
