China Intensifies Internet Crackdown

The hopes of political reform raised after the Chinese Communist Party elected Xi Jinping last year have been dashed amidst an intensifying crackdown on the internet. An article in an influential party journal described online criticism of the party and government as “defamation.” At the same time an influential internet personality, Charles Xue , who boasted 12 million followers on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo, was presented on television in handcuffs to make self-criticism, suggesting a forced revision of his opinions. Financial Times Beijing correspondent Jamil Anderlini reports that Xue “praised a legal interpretation issued by China’s judicial authorities last week, which allows people to be prosecuted for defamation or ‘spreading online rumours’ if their posts are viewed by more than 5,000 internet users or forwarded more than 500 times.” The internet crackdown comes as the Xi administration has struggled to regain moral authority after a spate of high-profile cases of corruption have rocked China. The promulgation of the new law and arrest of a prominent blogger will send a chill through China’s increasingly raucous online community. – YaleGlobal