The CCP’s New Year’s Resolution: Strengthen Internet Censorship

Source: NTD

The CCP run media reported that at the Jan. 3 national meeting of publicity department heads from across the country, Liu Yunshan, secretary of the Secretariat of the CCP Central Committee and Propaganda Department Director Liu Qibao emphasized that in 2014 there will be a tightening of Internet censorship. They demanded that media must be controlled by the party
and that the party have a firm grip on the CCP’s authority.
In its “Social Blue Book: 2014 Society of China Analysis and Forecast,” Chinese Academy of Social Sciences explains that national opinion leaders have more influence on the Internet than the media and government.
Hua Po, Beijing politics analyst, “The CCP can no longer control opinion in the Internet era. Those voices can not be shaken. The CCP is frightened by the dominating role of Internet opinion leaders. The official’s remarks are to remind the CCP to dominate the media. Now they are engaging in an Internet battle which they believe they must win in order to recapture their leadership.”
Xia Ming, Professor of Political Science, City University of New York: “What frightens the CCP most is losing control of the people. The CCP run media credibility is basically nonexistent.”
A 2013 people.com.cn Internet monitoring program report, “Chinese Internet Public Opinion Analysis,” proposes to adopt a united front in order to reduce adversary from outspoken internet users with more than 100,000 web fans such as lawyers, academics and entrepreneurs.
This proposal coincides with Liu QiBao’s address at the national meeting regarding ensuring the direction and management of ideology. However, this theory is considered to be over-idealistic.
“I don’t think this routine tactic of the CCP is going to work. The wish of the people cannot be disregarded. There is no way they can control the Internet leaders. They have become leaders because they represent the people. Once they speak for the CCP, they would lose their fans as well as their leadership on the Internet,” said Hua Po.
Along with the talk of occupying the Internet battlefield, Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun also claimed in a “People’s Daily” article that the infiltration of Western anti-China ideology must be resolutely resisted.
Foreign media has interpreted this claim as meaning that the CCP has not only upgraded its ideology management and censorship, but also shifted its stability maintenance overseas.
Professor of political science Xia Ming indicates that in the Internet era, the pace of globalization and education has provided the opportunity for the Chinese to learn about and have access to the international community. Chinese now come into contact with a massive amount of objective and true information, raising questions about the rule of the one-party system. That is exactly what the CCP fears the most.
Xia Ming said, “We know that many Chinese bypass the Internet blockade and read news from foreign sources. With so many systems available to breach Internet firewalls, the CCP censorship and brainwashing is under attack by the various domestic opinion leaders, the international media, as well as government and non-government agencies.”
Beijing political analyst Hua Po indicates that any forms of suppression will not stop the spread of public sentiment. New media will evolve and a new dialogue will occur after a brief silence.