Russia has been working on incorporating elements of China’s Great Firewall into the “Red Web”, the country’s system of internet filtering and control, after unprecedented cyber collaboration between the countries. A group of Kremlin and security officials is driving the offensive against internet freedoms. At their first cybersecurity forum, in April, top Chinese officials and their Russian counterparts gathered in Moscow for the talks. Delegates included Lu Wei, the head of China’s state internet information office, Fang Binxing, the so-called father of the Great Firewall and Igor Shchyogolev, President Vladimir Putin’s assistant on internet issues and former minister of communications. “Huawei is essentially an arm of the Chinese state, whoever nominally owns it,” said Gordon Chang, author of The Coming Collapse of China.

Source: The Guardian November 29, 2016 06:56 UTC