For many analysts, the idea that one might link China and ethics in the same breath in talking of information freedom might seem strange. In cyberspace, it is a country known more for its i-dictatorship rather than its e-democracy.
Yet, as surely as China has moved from peoples communes in agriculture to private household production or from banning private property to embracing it, China is also well down the path toward information freedom.
It may yet have several very big obstacles to cross, not the least continued censorship and punishment for dissemination of politically unorthodox ideas. But China is on that path, even if it would be a brave person who might predict the arrival time for the journeys end. Will it be in this decade or the next one?
As long as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) remains in power, its default position would appear to be one of information dictatorship and continued suppression of ideas that challenge key CCP orthodoxies.
The degree and character of censorship has changed massively in the last three decades. In spite of this widespread liberalization, the CCP is not giving up easily on this last bastion of dictatorship the control of information. In fact, since Xi Jinping came to power in November 2012, the screws have been tightened further.
One of the best indicators of this has been the issue of regulations concerning re-registration of all journalists in China dependent on their familiarity with CCP ideology. The regulations on journalists couple with a prohibition on Chinese news outlets from carrying news items from any other media source, especially foreign ones, without special dispensation.
So what basis is there for any hope that the CCP might tear down the remaining obstacles to information freedom in this secret state? One answer lies in understanding the trajectory of Chinas innovation policy and the related policy of CCP control of education, especially the universities.
The countrys leaders have staked the future of the CCP on a promise of national resurgence and leadership in science and technology. The trajectory of innovation policy in China has been impressive, as have been the necessary enabling departures from Communist orthodoxy.
One of the most significant was official recognition beginning in the middle of the first decade of this century that the private sector, not the government, was the key to establishing a thriving national innovation system.
A second evolution was the recognition that such a system depends on a vibrant and creative relationship between university-based research and the private sector.
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Can China Innovate Without Freedom of Information?