A question-and-answer page on Google Hong Kong’s Web site became inaccessible to some Chinese users yesterday, underscoring Beijing’s sensitivity about the Internet.
The Chinese government, obsessed with maintaining social stability and controlling the flow of information, requires all search engines operating on the mainland to self-censor. It uses a “Great Firewall” to block overseas sites with content it considers subversive or dangerous.
The Google page provides Chinese-speaking Internet users with a forum to ask questions of any description and some visitors had veered into highly sensitive territory.
Several recent questions concerned the June 4, 1989, crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, a topic banned from public discussion in China.
One questioner asked when China would have its next Tiananmen uprising, with answers including “soon; the Communist Party will collapse.”
Others included profanities about former leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) or sensitive contemporary issues such as a recent protest to protect the Cantonese language in Guangzhou, which ended in scuffles with police.
Multiple users in China reported getting error messages when they tried to access the page.
A Google spokeswoman said there was nothing technically wrong with the site.
“If you are noticing there is a blockage, you would need to ask the government as it would be an issue at their end,” she said.
China’s State Council Information Office, one of the country’s Internet regulators, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Google angered Beijing this year by announcing it was no longer willing to comply with censorship rules.
The company closed its local search site and redirected traffic to its site in Hong Kong, a former British territory that returned to Chinese rule in 1997 while retaining a high degree of autonomy.
China has the world’s largest Internet market by users at
420 million.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS