08/07/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10053

CHINA AND THE INTERNET

There are more than thirty-eight million internet users in China. The numbers are growing every day. China now ranks second in internet use after the United States.

Access to the internet means access to information -- not only for scholars and political elites, but for ordinary men and women. The Chinese government has hailed the power of information technology as a tool for economic development. It continues, however, to limit the information available to its citizens on the web.

Chinese authorities routinely try to censor the internet. They block access to websites of Western news organizations and human rights groups. They have arrested Chinese citizens suspected of posting articles critical of the regime. Recently, they closed thousands of unlicensed internet cafes -- places where people without a computer at home can surf the net. Chinese authorities claim the closures were necessary because of a fatal fire in a Beijing cafe in June. But some critics say that safety is being used as an excuse to bring internet cafes under closer state supervision.

The Chinese government is also pursuing policies designed to foster "self-censorship" among internet providers operating in China. More than one-hundred organizations and companies recently agreed that they will limit material available to the Chinese people. They signed a pledge promising that information deemed harmful to what were called "state security" and "social stability" will not be posted on their sites effective August lst.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, more than half a century ago. The declaration says, "Everyone has the right. . .to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." In the Information Age of today, the Chinese government and companies cooperating with it should remove obstacles preventing the Chinese people from making full and free use of the internet.