A Chinese crackdown on online activism -- highlighted by a mounting wave of arrests and trials -- is unlike other recent government campaigns, because anyone can become a victim, experts said yesterday.
The year-long detention of Liu Di, an ordinary Beijing student who posted democracy essays on the Internet, shows that this time the target is not just a well-defined group of open-mouthed intellectuals.
"What you see is a pattern in which the government is arresting more and more people who are not `dissidents'," said Bobson Wong, a New York-based researcher on the social impact of the Internet.
"Liu Di wasn't a dissident, she was just a kid," he said.
The detention of Liu has clearly sent chills down the spine of many Chinese, and her arrest has triggered unusually widespread calls for clemency.
What bothers many is that a 23-year-old girl, who may have thought little about the consequences of expressing her views online, could be met with the full force of China's system of oppression, observers said.
She has emerged as the most well-known person to fall foul of the Internet censors, who are engaged in a massive drive to quell discussion of sensitive political issues online.
Jiang Lijun, a Beijing-based activist accused of being a ringleader of a pro-democracy community in cyberspace, went on trial last week, and the verdict is still pending.
Du Daobin, a prolific contributor of articles on social and political issues to online forums, was arrested near his home in central China's Hubei province one week earlier.
At about the same time, the ministry of culture announced plans for a nationwide surveillance system aimed at controlling what people read and write when they visit one of the country's 110,000 Internet cafes.
"I think this is partly because Internet use is growing rapidly in China and the government wants to send a message that it will not tolerate any dissent online," said Wong.
Analysts disagree whether the government has stepped up its efforts in recent months and weeks, or if policies in place for years are just beginning to attract more attention.
But the consensus is that China is reaching a crucial stage, as public discontent is brewing over issues ranging from unemployment to official graft, while technology makes it easier than ever to discuss those matters.
"There are more and more social problems, and people, especially the young, increasingly use the Internet to air their views," said Frank Lu, who heads the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
The question is whether the government is united in its attempt to rein in free speech on the Internet, which now has at least 68 million users in China and is becoming a difficult animal to harass.
Even as reports are accumulating of government measures to stamp out what it considers subversive Internet use, it is far from obvious that the overall trend is for tighter controls.
Beijing prosecutors said late last month that they were not able yet to process the case of Liu Di, the university student, telling police to come up with better evidence.
Shortly afterwards, four young intellectuals sentenced to jail for posting their views on social issues online appeared at a day-long appeal trial and were given ample time to defend themselves, although the appeal was turned down yesterday.
The new government under President Hu Jintao (
The confusing signals have left Chinese dissidents at a loss when asked to predict if times are getting better or worse.
According to one school of thought, Hu and Wen genuinely want a more liberal society, and it is just the lower-level bureaucrats and law enforcers who do not get it yet.
"Some have speculated this is a case of local officials wanting something else than the central government," said Liu Xiaobo, a prominent Beijing-based dissident.
"There's no proof of this, but at least we can hope that the crackdown is simply the result of local officials' behavior, which could still mean Hu Jintao will eventually correct them," Liu said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was