China hits back on internet freedom
The diplomatic dispute over internet freedom began with Google's refusal to censor its Chinese search results
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By Alistair Potter. |  |
Friday, 22, Jan 2010 04:30
By Elizabeth Davies.
The Chinese government has responded angrily to US criticisms of its record on internet freedom, terming them "groundless accusations".
Yesterday Hillary Clinton delivered a speech on internet censorship following claims from Google it could pull out of the Chinese market due to malicious attacks upon the Gmail accounts of human rights activists in China.
Although she did not explicitly blame China for the attempted hack, Mrs Clinton, who also said that fighting censorship was part of the US' "national brand", said the perpetrators should face "international condemnation".
In response a statement posted on the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs website shortly after the speech said that such an accusation "runs contrary to the facts" and would harm US-China relations. A spokesman for the ministry insisted that China's constitution protected freedom of speech and that the country was devoted to a long-term strategy of internet development.
The international dispute follows the declaration earlier this month by Google that it was "no longer willing to continue censoring" its search results for the Chinese market. China requires companies operating within its borders to adhere to strict regulations, which means that the Chinese version of Google will not return search results for politically-sensitive terms like "Tiananmen Square protests".
Google's decision followed its discovery of cyber-attacks on its software coding and the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists, which it says originated in China. Mrs Clinton said that the US government expected China to investigate such claims, and that those responsible "should face consequences and international condemnation".
While the official Chinese response to Mrs Clinton's speech was diplomatic in its language, Chinese state-owned media was not so restrained. The English-language Global Times described Mrs Clinton's approach as "information imperialism", and accused western attitudes towards China of being "loaded with aggressive rhetoric against those countries that do not follow their lead". The newspaper justified the government's control of the internet by saying that China was "vulnerable" to the inflow of information, particularly when it had the purpose of "creating disorder".
Google has said it would like to preserve its operations in China and foothold in the country's valuable mobile phones market. Many technology analysts saw Google's declaration as one driven by business as much as human rights concerns; the Chinese-owned Baidu remains the country's biggest search engine despite Google's attempts to make inroads into the Chinese market.
Despite both Google and China's insistence that they are treating the affair as a commercial dispute, Mrs Clinton's remarks and the Chinese response have elevated the incident to one with international political implications. Barack Obama was criticised by US legislators last year for taking too soft a stance towards China during a visit to the country.
However, the current dispute is indicative of a growing rift between the two countries in recent months, exasperated by China's refusal to commit to carbon emission cuts at last year's UN climate change conference in Copenhagen.