Censorship

China became a signatory member to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 5th October 1998. However, China has never ratified the Covenant.

“In reality, China systematically violates all these freedoms through policies of censorship, surveillance and punishment. Every publication and all news goes through a sophisticated screening process and requires the consent of the Communist Party. The general public has little knowledge about the outside world since the information inflow and outflow are strictly screened and monitored by the authorities. Most of the journals and media are state-owned and feed people with news laden with official party ideology and propaganda.”
Excerpt from the 62nd Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights (2006)

According to Reporters Without Borders, China ranked 163rd out of 168 in the 2006 worldwide press freedom index. China controls the flow of information from the public media (newspapers, radio, TCV, internet, printed material), as well as monitoring private e-mails and phone exchanges. Tibetans are also routinely monitored when suspected of interacting with the outside world, and are often at threat of arrest and long-term detention.

The government blocks access to television and radio stations with Tibetan language news services operating outside Tibet and China such as Radio Free Asia, Voice of America and Voice of Tibet.

Books by the Dalai Lama, or books deemed to be politically challenging to China are also banned.
In universities, professors cannot lecture on politically sensitive topics, and many reportedly are required to attend political education sessions.

In March and April 2008, the Chinese regime used its strict controls of television and other media to paint a misleading picture of the protests which erupted across Tibet, re-using a brief piece of footage showing Tibetans kicking a shop door and using this to inform the Chinese public that Tibetans were taking part in widespread acts of vandalism against Chinese businesses. In fact, only a handful of the thousands of protesters took part in such activity, and footage of both the brutal crackdowns and the hundreds of peaceful protests were not aired by state television.
However, after Free Tibet and other organisations obtained photo, video and testimonial evidence of what was really happening in Tibet, the international media weighed up the evidence and reported the situation as it really was, leading to international condemnation of the crackdown on peaceful protesters in Tibet.
These reports themselves led to a reaction from the Chinese authorities, who instead of addressing the evidence exposed by news agencies, targeted the agencies themselves, accusing respected companies such as CNN of spreading lies about China, and most seriously of all, by expelling all foreign journalists from Tibet, preventing anything but state-approved news from emerging during a time of social unrest and brutal reaction.

Again, during the Olympic Torch Relay protests of April 2008, the Chinese state attempted to prevent evidence of mass protests being seen by the Chinese community in an attempt to continue the illusion that China is a 'harmonious nation', despite the uprising in Tibet.
This became a comedy of errors as the relay was continually re-arranged and otherwise altered to ensure positive camera footage was available for the time-delayed coverage on Chinese state media. In San Francisco, this even led to the torch being hidden from live TV crews, chased by helicopters and finally run through deserted streets so as to avoid having protesters within camera shot.
As with the protests in Tibet, the international media were unconvinced by the positive spin put on the Torch Relay, which was generally regarded as a chaotic farce by the international community, and even the International Olympic Committee, who have reacted by stating that it is possible that Torch Relays will never be run again following the Beijing Games.

During the Games itself, the regime continued to control access to information, and encouraged National Olympic Committees to ensure their athletes did not bring knowledge of Chinese policies into the public arena by speaking openly about politics during their time in Beijing.

Although the Chinese state enjoys almost complete control of information within its borders, the Chinese people are growing more resourceful in finding out the true facts about their government for themselves. With more and more Chinese students studying overseas, many more Chinese nationals are becoming aware of the true face of their government and its policies.

Internet access


In 2005 China introduced new restrictions on internet content, relating to “politics, economics, military affairs, foreign affairs and social and pubic affairs”. China’s new internet regulations launched in September 2005 put even further restrictions on information by preventing the distribution of any uncensored news in both websites and e-mail. China currently employs 30,000 internet police to monitor and crack down on any dissent in people’s e-mails or on websites.

As in Tibet, websites such as the BBC, Free Tibet, Phayul.com are banned throughout China, as are thousands of sites relating to issues such as democracy, Taiwan, the Dalai Lama or human rights. Those reporting or writing on sensitive issues or challenging the state are at enormous risk of dismissal from work, arbitrary detention or imprisonment.

Many Tibet-based websites are regularly closed down – either permanently or temporarily – for material deemed political or critical of the government appearing on their forums.

In October 2006, leading Tibetan writer Woeser’s on-line blogs were also closed by the Chinese authorities after she posted a birthday greeting to the Dalai Lama. Her book “Notes on Tibet” was banned in 2004. Shortly after the ban, Woeser, who writes in Chinese, was fired from her job, evicted from her home and lost her social welfare entitlement. She was also forced to write articles recognising her “political errors”.
Woeser was also arrested during the Olympic Games in 2008.

During the Olympic Games in 2008, Beijing's internet censorship was briefly relaxed following international pressure on China to adhere to the standards of information access demanded by the International Olympic Committee.
However, Beijing did not fully comply with these demands, and websites such as Free Tibet's and others relating to human rights in China and Tibet, Falun Gung sites and student activism and democracy resources remained barred during and after the Games.

In seeking to restrict the internet, the Chinese regime intends to control the amount of factual information available to the Chinese (and Tibetan) people, allowing them to continue pushing propaganda about issues which it has deemed threatening to its survival as the governing power in the country. Examples of state propaganda campaigns which rely on preventing real facts being popularised on the internet include the vilification of the Dalai Lama and the denial of brutal crackdowns on peaceful protests in Tibet.

However, as technology becomes more freely available and the means of producing photos, videos, blogs and sharing news more accessible to the general public, more and more people within China's borders are able to share alternative views and communicate with the outside world. The Chinese state remains on the defensive on this issue, allocating huge money and resources into its ongoing attempts to control the internet, and therefore protect itself from the likely reaction its own people may have to learning about its true policies and practices.

Some articles on internet censorship in China and Tibet:
FRANCE 24: Beijing's crusade against the moral corruption of the web (January 2009)
REUTERS: China blocks access to New York Times (December 2008)
DNA INDIA: Big Brother 2.0 if here (January 2008)
THE DAY AFTER: Beware the Chinese cyber warriors (December 2008)
REUTERS: China says within rights to block some websites (December 2008)
AP: With Olympics over, China re-blocks some websites (November 2008)
CHINA DIGITAL TIMES: Netizens find space to comment on Tibet (October 2008)
AFP: Apple investigating after ITunes is blocked in China (August 2008)
TIMES: Tibet's most famous blogger detained by Chinese police (August 2008)
THE AGE: China bows to pressure on the internet (August 2008)
TIMES: IOC's deal with China to block sites (August 2008)
GUARDIAN: Portals to Oppression: Web companies compliant with Chinese regime (June 2008)
GUARDIAN: The great Google news conspiracy (April 2008)
TIBETAN NEWS & CULTURE ONLINE: MSN and Yahoo help China track protesters (March 2008)
AFP: Pro-Tibet groups bombarded by abusive calls, viruses (March 2008)
THE ATLANTIC: 'The Connection has been Reset' by James Fallows (March 2008)
RED ORBIT: China's cyberspace media campaign (March 2008)
THE ATLANTIC: 'Penetrating the Great Firewall' by James Fallows (February 2008)

Google campaign

Western companies such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft all censor their websites operating in China. Therefore, pages that you can find on Google in the west do not appear on www.google.cn. The companies argue that they have to comply with Chinese law to operate.
Free Tibet ran a campaign against Google in 2006. Read more here