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PRC daily urges Web
rethink to silence political foes
Reuters, BEIJING
Chinese Communist Party control is at risk unless the government takes firmer
steps to stop Internet opinion being shaped by increasingly organized political
foes, a team of party writers warned in a commentary published yesterday.
The long commentary in the overseas edition of the Peopleˇ¦s Daily, the partyˇ¦s
main newspaper, added to signs that Beijing, jolted by the growing audience and
influence of microblogging Web sites, is weighing fresh ways to tame and channel
online opinion.
Chinese officials and media have recently complained about the spread of
damaging and unfounded ˇ§rumorsˇ¨ on the Internet, but this commentary raised the
political stakes by arguing that organized, subversive opponents are exploiting
tardy regulation to inflame opinion and spread their views.
The commentary urged changes in how China controls Internet innovations.
ˇ§Internet opinion is spontaneous, but increasingly shows signs of becoming
organized,ˇ¨ said the commentary, written by a team of writers from the partyˇ¦s
top theoretical journal, Qiu Shi (¨D¬O, Seeking Truth).
ˇ§Among the many controversies stirred up on the Internet, many are organized,
with goals and meticulous planning and direction, and some clearly have
commercial interests or political intentions in the background,ˇ¨ the commentary
said.
ˇ§Unless administration is vigorous, criminal forces, hostile forces, terrorist
organizations and others could manipulate public sentiment by manufacturing
bogus opinion on the Internet, damaging social stability and national security,ˇ¨
it said.
A commentary in the Peopleˇ¦s Daily does not amount to a government policy
pronouncement, and indeed this one may reflect a more conservative current in
official debate, but it adds to signals that Beijing is leaning toward tougher
controls.
China already heavily filters the Internet and blocks popular foreign sites,
such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
The Peopleˇ¦s Daily commentary did not single out the explosive growth of
microblog users, who reached 195 million by the end of June, an increase of 209
percent on the number at the end of last year, but a preface to the commentary
singled out a recent string of public uproars that have spread through
microblogs, especially the Sina Weibo (·s®ö·LłŐ), which dominates the sector in
China.
Those uproars included a bullet train crash in July that drew outrage aimed at
government officials over evasive statements, safety failures and the feverish
expansion of the high-speed rail network.
Sina and other Chinese microblog operators already deploy technicians and
software to monitor content, blocking and removing comments deemed unacceptable,
especially about protests, scandals and party leaders, but the torrent of
information and combative views can be hard to tame.
ˇ§In Internet battles, usually negative views crush positive ones,ˇ¨ the
commentary said, adding that extreme online opinion abounded with ˇ§unvarying
suspicion of government policies, official statements, mainstream viewpoints,
the social elite and the well-off.ˇ¨
Officially, at least, Sina Weibo and other Chinese microblog sites are still in
ˇ§trialˇ¨ mode.
In commentˇ¦s that appeared aimed at such microblogs, the commentary said the
Chinese government had shot itself in the foot by letting Internet technologies
take off and win a huge following before effective control was in place.
That must change, the commentary said.
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