China is holding a "World Internet Conference" this month to allow companies the chance to speak about the future of the Internet alongside government figures.

The event will be held in Wuzhen, near Alibaba's headquarters, and 1,000 participants will be in attendance, some from major companies in China, like Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, and some from the U.S. like Microsoft, LinkedIn and Qualcomm.

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Notable companies that won't be in attendance include Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Intel and other dominant U.S. companies that have not managed to grab a foothold in China due to the government blocking websites.

Facebook has been banned in China, giving rise to other platforms such as WeChat and Weibo. Google has also been banned as a search engine, after failing to comply with Chinese Internet law, giving rise to Baidu as the prominent search engine in the country.

The so-called Great Firewall might be less of a threat now, especially in the mobile age where apps like Snapchat and WhatsApp are available in China. But for larger Internet companies, the ban still means missing out on the largest Internet market.

Facebook has been trying to make inroads into China, but remains banned from the country. Mark Zuckerberg recently went on a trip into China, where he spoke Mandarin to Chinese students.

Several commenters have mentioned how slapdash this event feels, with Chinese officials sending out invitations just one month before the conference. While Chinese companies were quick to jump, others like Apple seem uninterested in the conference.

The cold reception to U.S.-based Internet companies makes it hard for them to appeal both to the government and to the people. Even if Facebook or Google were allowed in China, would they instantly become as popular as they are elsewhere?

For the companies in the U.S. who cannot access the Chinese Internet, it almost feels like it is too late to make moves to try and be unbanned, with competitors in China already winning over the masses. 

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