Los Angeles Times: China sends in search party to purge the Net

By Ching-Ching Ni in Shanghai

September 14 2002

Google, the Internet search engine recently blocked in China by the government, appeared to be up and running on Thursday. But anyone clicking into sensitive stories that include key words such as Falun Gong or Jiang Zemin is likely to hit a wall.

It is part of the routine crackdown on the media that happens in China whenever an important public event is on the horizon - in this case, the 16th Communist Party Congress opening on November 8.

The government's watchword is stability. It wants to create an atmosphere of political and social unity before the conclave. Recent newspaper coverage has been sanitised to accentuate positive news and de-emphasise negative stories about official corruption and the like.

Two weeks ago, President Jiang Zemin called on the media and other propaganda outlets to create a "sound atmosphere" for the congress by trumpeting the Communist Party's successes over the past 20 years of reform.

But China is no longer the same old totalitarian state. The Internet and a thriving market economy have transformed the country into a free-wheeling society much harder to control.

The popularity of the Internet has skyrocketed in recent years. An estimated 45 million Chinese now cruise the Web. Internet police struggle in vain to patrol chat rooms, play cat-and-mouse with users who try to get around government firewalls, and block material deemed harmful or otherwise critical of the state.

The crackdown on Google and Altavista.com, both popular search engines in China, triggered a flurry of denunciations from users, including businesses that rely on the Internet for information. "What crime has Google committed that it has to be banned? Alas, I'm speechless!" wrote one Netizen in Strong Country Forum, a chat room.

When it comes to the Internet, communist leaders want to have it both ways - to reap the financial benefits of the global information age but filter out the freedom that might threaten their hold on power. Beijing also apparently has banned the sale of books it thinks reflect badly on communist rule, past and present.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/13/1031608325198.html

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