China’s upcoming Internet regulations that would cut off access to foreign websites should not be a cause for worry, said the country's technology regulatory body.
The Chinese government has presented the draft of a new set of rules on Internet access that would apparently keep foreign websites from entering their domain and keep those inside the country from accessing them.
While it may appear too strict, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology believes that it should not be a subject of concern for most, explaining that there was a misunderstanding about the regulations.
The Draft Internet Law
According to the New York Times, the drafted rules are set to regulate websites in China, requiring them to register domain names with authorities and local service providers in the country.
Furthermore, the technology ministry proposes that failure to do so would subject the website owners to fines of up to 30,000 yuan ($4,600) or face the possibility of being blocked from access in China.
"Internet service providers must not provide network access services for domain names connected to the domestic network but which are not managed by domestic domain name registration service bodies," the ministry explained in a statement posted on their official website last week.
The Misunderstanding
On Wednesday, the MIIT told Reuters that there was a "misunderstanding" about the draft rules posted on their website.
According to them, the regulations "do not involve websites that are accessed overseas, do not affect users from accessing the related Internet content and do not affect the normal development of business for overseas companies in China."
Thus, the new set of rules does not contradict global practices.
According to China Daily, the amendment will have no effect whatsoever to companies accessing the network from outside of the country.
"The draft rule asks websites that engage in network access within the borders of China to register their domain names in the country. Companies accessing network outside of the country will not be affected," the ministry explained.
Furthermore, the ministry emphasized that the posted amendments are still drafts and can be subject to change based on feedbacks gathered until April 25.
Aside from this, Long Weilian, a long-time tech blogger in China, believes that the new rule is not something to get worked up about considering that it does not require too much effort on the part of the website administrators.
"Technically, the re-registration of domain names itself is not hard. Companies can transfer their domain names from foreign registration service providers to domestic ones within a day," Long explained.
Experts also believe that the interpretation of the draft stating that the government can block all unregistered websites is very unlikely.
"It is possible, but not very likely, that this would result in a de facto block of all domains not registered in China," Mercator Institute for China Studies research associate Mareike Ohlberg told Reuters.