China yesterday vowed to keep a tight grip on the Internet, saying in a white paper it would continue to block anything considered subversive or threatening to “national unity.”
The policy statement was released three months after a public dispute over censorship prompted Google Inc to move its China-based search engine to the freer Chinese territory of Hong Kong in March.
The report said there were 384 million Internet users in China at the end of last year, equal to about 29 percent of the total population.
The government aims to boost that to 45 percent in the next five years by pushing into rural areas where the white paper said there was a “digital gap.” It said the Internet had taken an “irreplaceable role in accelerating the development of the national economy” and would continue to impact daily work, education and lifestyles.
However, China, which routinely blocks Web sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, gave no sign there would be an easing of the “Great Firewall” — the nickname for the network of filters that keep mainland Web surfers from accessing material the government deems sensitive.
The official English translation of the paper gives a favorable mention of Twitter — an apparent glitch since the US microblogging service has been banned in China since last year. The English version of the white paper gave it as an example of a fast-growing service that allows people to express themselves. The Chinese version mentions only micro-blogs.
The 31-page white paper did not give specific examples of what content would be banned, saying Chinese laws prohibit the spread of “contents subverting state power, undermining national unity, infringing upon national honor and interests, inciting ethnic hatred and secession” as well as such things as pornography and terror.
The white paper also put the onus on companies to block content deemed sensitive, saying China required Internet service providers to set up “Internet security management systems and utilize technical measures to prevent the transmission of all types of illegal information.”
Google ran afoul of the government earlier this year when it accused Chinese hackers of trying to plunder its software coding and of hijacking the Gmail accounts of human rights activists protesting Beijing’s policies, and said it would stop self-censoring its search results in line with Chinese regulations.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
RSS