Nam Kuang-sang and others.

This is not the first time that the United States has been asked to help China with its efforts to regulate the Internet. The U.S. has been pressuring China for months to address the issue of intellectual property rights, which is a big sore spot for Beijing. And, of course, the U.S. is now pushing China to allow its internet services to be used freely.

On Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney, while responding to a question on whether the U.S. would agree to a more liberal use of the internet of China, said it was up to China and not the U.S. to decide how the Internet should be used.

“We think it’s not the role of the United States to dictate how its Internet is used,” Carney said. “It’s up to China to decide upon how its Internet is governed. We hope they choose to allow more open and free use of their Internet.”

Carney seemed to be under the impression that Washington would be involved in some aspect or another of the process, especially in the creation of a new Internet governance board, but, instead, China is looking for the U.S. to get involved.

But in the case of the regulation of overseas Internet providers, the U.S. should not be putting pressure on China, as it has taken the same approach with Internet providers, says Michael Tien, a professor who researches Chinese internet.

“We don’t have any reason to do so,” Tien told the Korea Times Thursday. “It’s not a realistic step that would provide any real benefits, and would just anger China.”

Still, it looks to be the case that the U.S. will not be involved in regulating overseas Internet providers in China because China is determined to create something it is not yet ready for — a global Internet governance board.