China Said To Restore Blocks On Websites

The Chinese government has begun blocking access to certain websites that it had previously allowed Internet users to access, reports the New York Times.

Liu Jianchao, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said at his twice-weekly news conference on Tuesday in Beijing that the Chinese government had a right to censor Web sites that violated the country's laws. He added that "some Web sites," which he did not identify, had violated China's law against secession by suggesting that there were two Chinas -- a reference to the Beijing government's longstanding position that mainland China and Taiwan form a single China.

"I hope that the Web sites in question will be able to self-regulate, and not do things that will violate Chinese law, and for the sake of both sides, develop conditions for Web site cooperation," Mr. Liu said, according to a transcript posted on the Foreign Ministry's Web site.

The New York Times also reports that the government may be doing this out of fear of recession-driven social unrest.

Chinese officials have followed a pattern over the years of censoring the Internet more tightly at times of economic or political stress. This fall the economy has slowed sharply, and Chinese leaders have begun cautioning about potential risks to social stability from high unemployment.

BBC reports that their Chinese website along with that of Voice of America have been blocked.

The sites had been unblocked after journalists attending the Beijing Olympics complained that the government was censoring sites deemed sensitive.

The BBC expressed disappointment at the apparent reinstatement of the ban.

But a Chinese government spokesman told journalists that some sites contained content that violated Chinese law.

Among the other sites blocked are Asiaweek, Reporters Without Borders and some Hong Kong and Taiwan sites.

Ironically, Thursday is the 30th Anniversary of China's reform and opening up period, as reported in Xinhua.

The third plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the CPC was opened on Dec. 18, 1978, which signaled the country's mission shift from the social class struggle to economic construction, as well as a starting point for the reform and opening-up.

Having gone through a series of significant events including snow disasters, the Sichuan earthquake, and the Beijing Olympics in 2008, China will now celebrate the 30th anniversary of reform and opening-up.

Reform has remained a key topic for all domestic media, and galas to celebrate reform and opening-up were held around the country in the past weeks.

Comments

[research]

Anonymous re-mailer?

[robmclaughjr]

GOOD!

We Americans can use all the help we can get. Any information withheld from our competitors will only help us in the long run. Their lack of access to free information will result in lower scientific achievement, lower technological achievement, and lower quality of goods in general. As Americans, we should accompany every scientific paper and open-source document with text promoting Taiwan's nationhood, whether you believe in it or not. It is so pathetic for a government to decide what its citizen's may or may not know.

[LMPE]

Hopefully they block Faux News (seriously, they have to: Fox is totally anti-Cuba, and China is probably Cuba's #1 supporter in world affairs).

[FreelanceMinion]

And the USA reaction? Send more of our manufacturing base to China and borrow more money from them. We can't really put up an argument against them when we are increasingly dependent on them.

[StevenBolstad]

I just spent Dec 6 through 16 in China. There were many sites I could not reach, including the Huff Po.
Also including my own China travel journal which is non-political and all pretty much positive.
http://www.journeysintochina.com/
This blockade is known as The Great Firewall. It is not wise for them to do this because in the end these things always backfire.
There are thousands of general and non political blogging sites that cannot be viewed either.
It is frustrating when there to experience this, but the average Chinese internet viewer is unaware of what they are missing, yet they know there are things they cannot see. Yet they cannot complain either.
You can talk about anything and do anything in China EXCEPT politics and complain about these freedoms.
I am of the school that hopes the successes of the rising middle class will reach a tipping point to demand more.

[netzwerg]

I use TOR when iam in China because my companys website and a popular german newspaper spiegel.de is blocked by the great firewall. TOR makes the chinese firewall useless, chinese told me that. ;)

[StevenBolstad]

Thank you for that. I was looking for the right Proxy Server. I will check them out.
I am a Mac user as well. Hope it works for Macs.

[Tulu]

This was the help Dictator of Ethiopia by China to block website.

http://www.cyberethiopia.com/net/docs/internet_repression_in_ethiopia.html

[Tulu]

China its anti Democracy Act has no bound. China empowers Ethiopian Dictator Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and it jams short wave radios including VOA to Ethiopia. How can we help democracy those who yearn for democracy in Ethiopia. My view is China is becoming fast the number anti democratic arm of many dictators in Africa.

[EndangeredJackalope]

Such hypocrisy from the Chinese Govt. They give aid to African countries w/o any stipulations (good in some ways, bad in that the money can be used by the govt for whatever it wants -- and it ends up being a bribe essentially, the Chinese buy the favor of African leaders.)

The excuse the CCP gives, is that they don't want to meddle in the foreign govt's domestic policy. But then they help Ethiopia, for example, to block Internet access.

Seems that the CCP only believes that a country's government represent the country, and not the actual people. They give power/money blindly to Government power. In essence, its just a bribe.

[davidwayneosedach]

Blocking BBC and Voice of America. Is that really necessary? Will it not lead to back lashes?

[EndangeredJackalope]

Probably not, the BBC was blocked in China for years, until last summer during the Olympics.