The Washington Post reports: "Reading headlines from the World Internet Conference in China, the casual reader might have come away a little confused. China was opening its doors to the global Internet, some media outlets optimistically declared, while others said Beijing was defending its system of censorship and state control. And perhaps most confusing of all, Apple's CEO Tim Cook stood up and celebrated China's vision of an open Internet. Say what? China has more than 730 million Internet users, boast the largest e-commerce market in the world and consumers who enthusiastically embrace mobile digital technology. But it censors many foreign news websites and keeps most Western social media companies out. The World Internet Conference held in the eastern Chinese city of Wuzhen is meant to promote China's vision of "cyber-sovereignty" — the idea that governments all over the world should have the right to control what appears on the Internet in their countries. In practice, in China, that amounts to the largest system of censorship and digital surveillance in the world, where criticism of the Communist Party is sharply curtailed and can even land you in jail... Critics saw simple business calculations in Cook's appearance in Wuzhen. 'Cook Kisses the Ring,' Bloomberg columnist Tim Culpan wrote, arguing that Cook was "desperate to hold onto any remaining scraps of the China market" in the face of stiff competition from local rivals. Rights group Freedom House last month branded China the worst abuser of Internet freedom among 65 countries surveyed, followed by Syria and Ethiopia."