China hits back over claims it is censoring the internet

BEIJING yesterday issued a stinging response to US criticism that it is blocking the free flow of words and ideas on the internet, accusing the United States of damaging relations between the two countries by hoisting its "information imperialism" on China.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu defended China's policies, claiming the nation's internet regulations were in line with Chinese law and did not hamper the cyber activities of the world's largest online population. His remarks follow those made by US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, who, in a speech on Thursday, criticised countries engaging in cyberspace censorship, and urged China to investigate computer attacks against Google.

"Regarding comments that contradict facts and harm China-US relations, we are firmly opposed," Mr Ma said. "We urge the US side to respect facts and stop using the so-called freedom of the internet to make unjustified accusations against China."

In her speech in Washington, Ms Clinton cited China as among a number of countries where there has been "a spike in threats to the free flow of information" over the past year. She also named Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

A state-run newspaper labelled the appeal from Washington as "information imperialism", and Mr Ma insisted China had "the most active development of the internet" of any country.

Washington, meanwhile, carried its message on internet freedom directly to Chinese bloggers. The US embassy in Beijing and consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou hosted internet-streamed discussions with members of the blogging community yesterday – the latest example of Washington's outreach to Chinese bloggers as a way of spreading its message.

The bloggers met US diplomats from the political, economic and public affairs sections, who held discussions and answered questions about Ms Clinton's speech. The meetings were similar to a session organised during US president Barack Obama's visit to China in November.

Zhou Shuguang, who blogs under the name "Zuola", attended the session in Guangzhou and said Ms Clinton's speech resonated deeply with Chinese bloggers frustrated by the content controls. "We welcome the US bringing this topic to the table for discussion in a diplomatic way," Mr Zhou said.

Internet control is considered a critical matter of state security in China, and Beijing is not expected to offer any concessions. Beijing promotes internet use for commerce, but heavily censors content it deems pornographic, anti-social or politically subversive.

Ms Clinton's speech came on the heels of a 12 January threat from Google to pull out of China unless the government relented on censorship. The ultimatum came after Google said it had uncovered a computer attack.