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While Washington argues with Europe over free speech and digital regulation, China is quietly executing a strategy that could rewrite the internet’s DNA—and tilt it toward authoritarian control.

This isn’t about TikTok or any single app. It’s about the plumbing of the internet itself: the technical standards that decide how data moves, how networks connect, and who sets the rules for the digital world. These standards might sound like mind-numbing engineering details. They’re not. They are the invisible levers of power in the 21st century. And right now, Beijing is pulling them while the U.S. is barely paying attention.

Here’s the big play: China wants to host the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC)—the once-every-four-years U.N. gathering where governments and industry leaders decide how the world’s airwaves and networks will function. It’s not some obscure tech meetup. The WRC decides the rules for everything from 5G and 6G spectrum to satellite internet, emergency communications, and the future architecture of global connectivity.

Landing the WRC would give Beijing massive visibility, a chance to showcase its tech ecosystem, and a platform to position itself as a central U.N. player for countries across the globe, especially in the global south. Home-field advantage means controlling the spotlight, shaping side meetings, building alliances, and amplifying its own narrative about the future of the internet.

And make no mistake: China’s vision isn’t about an open, decentralized web. It’s about a tightly managed, state-run system where surveillance isn’t a bug—it’s the architecture. Where censorship isn’t bolted on later—it’s baked into the code itself.

This isn’t a theoretical threat. China has already floated “New IP,” a proposal for a top-down internet architecture that hands governments near-total control over data flows. It hasn’t passed—yet. For now, it lingers in the ITU’s study groups like a zombie idea, waiting for the right moment to come back to life. Pair that persistence with control of a stage as big as the WRC, and Beijing could set the rules for the next generation of the internet before the U.S. even shows up to the fight.

Meanwhile, Washington… mostly watches.

China understands something simple: control the standards, control the future. That’s why it floods international bodies with engineers, diplomats, and lobbyists who all speak with one voice: China’s. At the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)—the U.N. agency that runs the WRC—Chinese officials now hold top leadership posts. Huawei, ZTE, and other Chinese tech giants show up armed with draft proposals, coordinated messaging, and votes lined up from friendly governments.

The U.S.? Barely present.

And that’s a disaster in the making. Because the boring-sounding world of technical standards isn’t just technical. It’s geopolitical. The country that writes the standards doesn’t just decide how networks connect; it decides whose values those networks embody.

Beijing’s goals couldn’t be clearer: lock in control of information flows so data moves through surveillance-optimized systems, tilt global markets toward Chinese tech giants through favorable standards, and export digital authoritarianism by pushing other governments toward the same centralized, censorship-friendly architecture.

Hosting the WRC would supercharge all three.

If China succeeds, the open, interoperable internet the U.S. pioneered could be replaced by something very different: a fragmented, state-centric network where free expression, privacy, and innovation take a back seat to political control.

Think about what’s at stake. The global internet we take for granted—a decentralized system that empowers users and fuels innovation—could morph into a “World Wide Wiretap” dominated by state surveillance. Markets for next-generation technologies could be rigged to favor Huawei, ZTE, and future Chinese giants, leaving Silicon Valley boxed out. Even national security is on the line: military communications, critical infrastructure, and emergency networks could all end up running on rules shaped in Beijing, not Washington.

And here’s the kicker: standards work takes years. By the time policymakers realize what’s happening, the technical DNA of the next internet could already be written—in Mandarin.

Right now, philanthropy isn’t paying attention. The private sector assumes someone else will handle it. Policymakers chase the crisis of the week while Beijing patiently plays the long game, stacking the deck in meeting after meeting, vote after vote.

So what should the U.S. do? Treat technical standards like the strategic priority they are. Flood the ITU and WRC with engineers, diplomats, and companies ready to fight for open, secure, interoperable systems. Invest in the organizations and alliances that can push back on China’s dominance. And educate policymakers, funders, and the public that this quiet, technical-sounding battlefield is where the future of the internet gets decided.

Because if China wins this game, we lose the internet as we know it.

This isn’t hyperbole. It’s happening right now. And unless the U.S. wakes up, the next generation of the internet will be built on China’s terms.

Konstantinos Komaitis, “Analysis: China’s bid to rewrite the internet’s DNA,” Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), September 5, 2025, https://dfrlab.org/2025/09/05/analysis-chinas-bid-to-rewrite-the-internets-dna/.