A State’s Response to Internal and External Sovereignty Challenges: A Case of China’s Enhanced Cyberspace Control

We aim to explain the rationale behind China tightening up cyber control measures after 2013. Noticing Krasner's conjecture (2001) on the cyberspace as potential threats to the national sovereignty both internally and externally, we analyze how China addresses the sovereignty threats with domestic institutionalization for stringer cyber control and the deviation from the global cooperation for managing cybersecurity. Internal sovereignty challenges refer to the loosening domestic control of various sub-national groups, while external sovereignty challenges include various foreign influences that undermine the legitimacy of the control of state actor. Facing these challenges, a state should successfully address both directions to retain its sovereignty. To confirm this postulation, we trace China's strategies to counter such bidirectional challenges focusing on the recent development which includes the Xi Jinping's institutional reform for top level domestic cyber control and the recent problematic deviation of UN cybersecurity cooperation claiming cyber sovereignty. China's enhanced measures to control over cyberspace would effectively address the raised challenges and we may further predict that similar measures can be adopted in countries that have similar challenges.