DeepSeek photo illustration of the AI app environment with the logo.DeepSeek is a Chinese artificial ... More intelligence company that develops open-source large language models LLM in a fraction of the cost of the US based competition. DeepSeek logo displayed on a smartphone screen with the flag of China on a screen in the background. Amsterdam, the Netherlands on January 28, 2025 (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NurPhoto via Getty Images U.S.-China tech competition is about more than tariffs. The future of the Internet is at stake. China is not just exporting hardware—it is exporting laws, standards, and authoritarian control. China is promoting its vision of what cyberspace should look like, which clashes sharply with the U.S.’s vision for a free and open Internet. To do so, China is training other governments in its authoritarian ways. It is fiercely seeking to dominate the little-known international organizations that literally set the standards for global tech, ensuring that Chinese firms have a global edge. China is also exporting its Legal Great Wall, repressive laws related to China’s national security and cybersecurity. China is attempting to enforce those laws abroad—even in the U.S. The U.S. and the private sector must act to counter China’s legal warfare—and keep China from taking over the Internet. China’s Competing Vision for Tech and Cyberspace The U.S.’s conception of what the Internet should look like is vastly different than China’s. The latest U.S. National Security Strategy, released in 2022, endorses the UN Norms of Responsible State Behavior in Cyberspace as the “rules of the road” for cyberspace and says the U.S. will promote them together with partner and ally nations. These “UN Cyber Norms,” were created by a UN Group of Governmental Experts and affirmed by the UN General Assembly in 2021. The 11 basic norms specify that states should not attack critical infrastructure, respond to requests for assistance by those attacked, and cooperate with other states to stop crime and terrorism, and other rules designed to keep civilians safe from cyber conflict. As the Strategy says, the Norms affirm that “human rights apply online just as they do offline.” Project 2025 goes even further than non-binding norms. Project 2025 advocates for the State Department to work with allies on a binding framework of enforceable norms that would “draw clear lines of unacceptable conduct” in cyberspace. China promotes a different future for the Internet. China advocates “cyber sovereignty,” a concept first announced by Xi Jinping in 2015. Cyber sovereignty allows states full control over Internet governance within their borders—to include censorship and surveillance. According to Adam Segal, a former senior cyber official in the Biden administration, the key goals of cyber sovereignty are tight control over domestic information, technological dominance, and influence over global cyber governance. China has partnered with Russia and others to advance its vision of cyber sovereignty. China supports a Russia-led competing initiative in the UN designed to undermine the U.S.-backed Group of Governmental Experts. China also sells surveillance and censorship technology to other states and teaches them to use it. China’s National Computer Emergency Response Center (CERT) has partnerships with at least 274 other CERTs in 81 countries and territories and has signed 33 cybersecurity cooperation memoranda. These partnerships may include favorable trade and financing terms and intelligence-sharing agreements, may give China visibility into software vulnerabilities worldwide, and can provide access for China-based hackers. China has also held trainings and academies for foreign government and business officials. Data is scant, but China trained officials from at least 36 countries in 2017-2018 alone. 437 Southeast Asian government officials attended one such training at the Baise Executive Leadership Academy—on how to “guide public opinion online.” The trainings appear to be working. At least 38 countries have purchased China’s surveillance technologies. Vietnam and Uzbekistan adopted some of China’s cyber governance laws and regime and recently have begun to vote with China to oppose UN resolutions on Internet freedom. Egypt, Tanzania, Laos, Pakistan, Uganda and Zimbabwe have also adopted cyber laws similar to China’s. China has signed an unknown number of bilateral and technical cybersecurity and internet governance agreements, including a secret Comprehensive Cybersecurity Partnership with Cuba. MORE FOR YOU NYT ‘Strands’ Today: Hints, Spangram And Answers For Thursday, May 1st Why Ripple’s $5 Billion Offer To Circle Was More Than A Power Play Google’s Update Decision—Bad News For 50% Of Android Users How China Is Rewriting Global Tech Rules China has also sought to dominate international standards-making bodies. The International Standards Organization, International Telecommunications Union, and other standards-making bodies are unknown to most—but they quietly make it possible for the world to work together. For example, the ISO ensures things like credit cards fit in ATMs, A4 paper fits in printers, and your personal data stays secure online. The ITU makes sure your phone connects internationally, your TV does not lose signal, and satellites do not crash into each other. These organizations shape everything from the screws in your furniture to the 5G signal on your phone. And they will set AI standards that will affect virtually all the tech you touch. China is trying to use international standards-making bodies to influence every technological choice you make. China’s representation in multilateral technical bodies has grown by 250% in the past 10-15 years. China now chairs or co-chairs more technical committees of the ISO than any other country. It has disproportionate representation in working groups at the ISO and ITU. ITU leadership increasingly features China-backed representatives advancing cyber sovereignty. Can you imagine a world in which the only cell phones that could make calls were made in China? China can—and it is trying to set the standards so that its own tech will dominate the future. China wants to export its tech abroad and sell authoritarianism along with it. If China prevails, Internet freedom could vanish in much of the world—and Americans’ freedoms would be affected. The U.S. has already indicted a Zoom executive for shutting down a Zoom meeting commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre and reporting the U.S.-based participants to Chinese authorities. China is also using its Legal Great Wall to sanction Western businesses that hold views unfavorable to the Chinese Communist Party. By setting the standards to give its tech an edge, selling that tech, and training foreign government officials how to use it to repress and surveil their citizens in the name of cyber sovereignty, China is undermining democratic freedoms worldwide. How the U.S. Can Stop China From Taking Over the Internet and Dominating Global Tech The U.S. and its allies and partners must treat China’s legal warfare ("lawfare") and “normfare” as a strategic threat. They must invest in a binding legal framework to protect a free and open Internet. The U.S. must also work closely with the private sector and advocate for the interests of U.S. businesses. Private sector lawsuits against China and Chinese tech firms can challenge and weaken China’s influence over tech standards. The U.S. must also work with allies to educate countries about the risks of Chinese tech, and to provide low-cost alternatives to the repressive technologies that China eis selling to the developing world. Tech tariffs are just the tip of the iceberg. China is trying to rewrite the rules that shape our lives on and offline. The U.S. and the private sector must act decisively to stop China’s world-wide web of authoritarianism from ensnaring us all. Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work. Editorial StandardsForbes Accolades