ICANN names Chinese scholar as VP for Asia

The organization in charge of Internet domain names has selected a Chinese scholar as vice president for Asia.

The appointment of Xiaodong Lee was announced in Beijing on Thursday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Lee is a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and has served as chief technology officer of the China Internet Network Information Center, which is in charge of registering names ending in ".cn" for China.

ICANN is preparing to begin taking bids next month for new domain name suffixes. They could include brand names, hobbies and just about anything else.

The Chinese government embraces the Internet as a way to promote commerce, but it also tries to block access to foreign websites deemed subversive. China has the world's biggest online population.