BEIJING: China defended its right to censor the Internet, saying it needed to do so to ensure state security, and cautioned foreign governments to respect and obey its online policies.
EASING STATE CONTROL: People using computers at an Internet cafe in Hefei, Anhui province. — Reuters photo
The government’s white paper on the Internet in China, where more than 400 million people are now online, comes after a very public row with Google over web freedoms which prompted the US firm to shut down its Chinese search engine.
The Google spat touched off a war of words with the United States over Internet freedom, at a time when ties were already suffering over US arms sales to Taiwan and a host of trade and currency issues.
“Within Chinese territory, the Internet is under the jurisdiction of Chinese sovereignty. The Internet sovereignty of China should be respected and protected,” the government said.
Beijing operates a vast system of web censorship, sometimes referred to as the ‘Great Firewall of China’.
It blocks access to any content the government deems unacceptable, ranging from pornography to political dissent.
China said it ‘advocates the exertion of technical means’ in line with existing laws and international norms ‘to prevent and curb the harmful effects of illegal information on state security, the public interest and minors’.
It said such laws allowed the curbing of content on everything from ‘instigating racial hatred or discrimination and jeopardising ethnic unity’ to gambling, violence and obscenity.
According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, China is among the worst nations in the world oppressing Internet bloggers, and had jailed 24 journalists as of December 2009, many of them Internet bloggers.
But China insisted it ‘guarantees the citizen’s freedom of speech on the Internet as well as the public’s right to know, to participate, to be heard and to oversee’.
The white paper said China’s leaders ‘frequently log onto the Internet to get to know the people’s wishes’ and participate in online chats with users.
Premier Wen Jiabao, who has tried to forge a reputation as a man of the people, contrasting with his colleagues in the ruling Communist Party hierarchy who come across as much more staid, has done two web chats since last year.
The government said it aims to make the Internet available to 45 per cent of its 1.3-billion-strong population in the next five years. — AFP