Turkey, China and the Future of the Internet

Frank Gaffney had two very interesting guests on Secure Freedom Radio Yesterday.

The first was Burak Bekdil,  the Ankara based columnist who writes for Hurriyet News and the Gatestone Institute. Gaffney asked Bekdil about the deal which has been made between the governments of Turkey and Germany.  Bekdil isn’t confident in either country’s ability to handle visa free travel for Turks in Europe.

Gaffney pointed out that as a journalist working in Turkey, Bekdil is operating in an environment that is often hostile to journalists and free expression.

When asked to comment on the relationship between leaders in Washington and Turkey, Bekdil pointed out that while the Turkish government sees the Kurds as terrorists, the U.S. government sees them as allies.

Finally, Gaffney asked for Bekdil’s opinion on the new mosque in Lanham, Maryland. Bekdil suggested that building such mosques around the world gives Islamists a sense of conquest.

Gaffney’s second guest was Gordon Chang, a  World Affairs Journal blogger and writer for Forbes.

Vietnam recently seized a Chinese boat carrying three soldiers and thousands of gallons of oil.

Chang described the situation:

“Apparently, the Chinese vessel was selling the oil or distributing it to Chinese fishing boats that were also illegally in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. I think what’s going on here is China’s pushing against all its neighbors, not only friends but also foes. This is fascinating because it shows I think that right now the Chinese political system is going off the rails.”

Gaffney asked Chang about recent reports which indicate that China is placing missiles on islands in the South China Sea. Chang responded:

“Right now, Beijing is determined to dominate that body of water which everybody else thinks is international but which the Chinese believe is an internal Chinese lake. It’s a zero sum conflict, there can only be one winner and hopefully that is going to be the international community.”

Gaffney asked Chang to assess  the efforts of China’s Anbang Insurance Group to acquire Starwood Hotels in the U.S.

“There apparently is a struggle inside of Beijing about what Anbang could do and that’s why in the middle of this bidding war it actually had to drop out. This is going to be fascinating, we’re going to learn a lot more about what’s going on inside Beijing. At this particular time though, a lot of these state enterprises, the bigger ones, are trying to get their money outside China and at the same time – and this is absolutely fascinating – the Chines authorities are prohibiting the smaller players and individuals from getting their money out.”

Gaffney also asked Chang about the decision on the part of the U.S. to relinquish control of the internet and the role China could play in the future.

Chang was not optimistic:

“Beijing right now intends to dominate the internet, not only theirs, they intend to dominate ours, and the last thing we should be doing at this particular time is giving the Chinese any voice in the way the internet is governed.”