China's internet was hailed as a path to democracy but the Communist Party reshaped it in its own im
In 2000, then US president Bill Clinton famously said in a speech that he was confident the rise of the internet would push China towards democracy.
“There’s no question China has been trying to crack down on the internet,” he said. “Good luck. That’s sort of like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.”
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When President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he immediately attached great importance to internet development and governance, urging cadres to command the modern tool to safeguard the ruling Communist Party and expand its influence in international cyberspace.
Under Xi’s watch, the Great Firewall has been fortified and other surveillance tools added to toughen internet censorship. These include the Great Cannon, which was launched in 2015 to alter and replace online content, according to a report by researchers led by Bill Marczak of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. In addition, China passed laws to tighten control over the internet.
In January, the party published a book of remarks Xi had made since 2013 about the internet, highlighting China’s “historic achievements” in cyberspace administration and development and claiming that the internet was bringing an “unprecedented impact on sovereignty and security”.
With more than 70 per cent of China’s 1.4 billion people relying on the internet for work, consumption and entertainment, the government has vowed to increase people’s “sense of fulfilment, happiness and security” by providing a high-quality internet service and becoming a cyberpower by 2035.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3125128/chinas-internet-was-hailed-path-democracy-communist-party
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