China’s Internet regulator, asked about the apparent blocking of some online accounts of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, yesterday said that Internet service providers were responsible for online content and had the right to shut down Web sites.
The comment came in response to an enquiry about reports that the social media accounts of Hong Kong’s biggest English-language daily newspaper had been blocked and that a critical online Chinese-language Caixin magazine article had been deleted.
“The state Internet information office has enforcement responsibility, in accordance with the law, to carry out Internet information content management and supervision,” the Cyberspace Administration of China said in a faxed statement.
“Internet information service providers take on the main responsibility for any law-breaking and harmful Internet accounts that exist, and have the right in accordance with the relevant laws and rules and their user ‘service agreements’ to take measures including temporarily halting usage and cancelling registration,” it said.
The South China Morning Post has in recent weeks reported the mystery of five Hong Kong booksellers who dealt in gossipy books about Chinese leaders and went missing only to resurface in Chinese custody. The five went missing over the past six months, sparking fears in the West that Chinese authorities were overriding the “one country, two systems” formula protecting Hong Kong’s freedoms since its return to China from British rule in 1997.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said its law enforcement officials would never do anything illegal, especially not overseas, and called on foreign governments not to interfere in Hong Kong affairs.
The Post has also reported freely on anti-Beijing street protests in Hong Kong and the territory’s annual commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, which are taboo in China.
China’s influential state-backed tabloid Global Times yesterday published an article saying that while China was exploring a wider public discourse, particularly on the Internet, limits to free speech were narrower in China than in the West.
The apparent blocking of the Post accounts comes during the annual National People’s Congress session in Beijing, which has traditionally been a politically sensitive time.
The Weibo social media account of the Post shows a message saying: “Sorry, there’s an error with the account you’re trying to visit and it is temporarily unavailable.”
A search for the Post’s WeChat account does not produce any results. but scanning a QR code leads to a page that says: “Features for this blocked account not available.”
The newspaper’s Web site has a message saying it is not available.
The Post has not reported that it has been blocked and spokesman Michael Chu did not respond to repeated requests for comment on Thursday or yesterday.
A spokesman for Sina Weibo Corp (新浪微博) declined to comment, as did Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊), the company that owns WeChat.
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
CRITICISM: It is deeply regrettable that China, which is pursuing nuclear weapons, has suppressed Taiwan, which is pursuing peace, a government official said Representative to Japan Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) yesterday accused Beijing of interference after Taiwan’s official delegation to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony in Japan was assigned seating in the “international non-governmental organizations [NGO]” area. “Taiwan is by no means an international NGO, but a sovereign nation that is active on the international stage,” Lee said. Lee and Chen Ming-chun (陳銘俊), head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Fukuoka, attended the ceremony in Nagasaki yesterday, which marked the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city. That followed Lee’s attendance at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony on Wednesday
RSS