A Chinese Internet Without Censorship... Only for Foreigners

Chongqing, a large city in south-western China most well-known for the antics of its neo-Maoist boss Bo Xilai, will have free access to the Internet soon—though not everyone will be enjoying it.

A June 17 article in Southern Weekend reports the setting up of a special district free of China’s “Great Firewall”; but it only serves international corporations and will be strictly isolated from the rest of the country.

The article, “The ‘Cloud District’ of Chongqing: A Place without the Great Firewall,” drew a lot of attention from China’s Internet community.

The “Cloud District,” short for International Offshore Cloud Computing Special Management District, is being built in the Chongqing Two Rivers Area and will take up 10 square kilometers (about 2,471 acres), according to the report.

Cloud computing is an emerging computing technology in the IT industry and has opened the doors for huge business opportunities. Because of the regime’s tight control over Internet access, China’s market share is zero.

The Cloud District’s network will connect directly to the Internet, bypassing the Chinese regime’s firewall; foreign investors will thus be able to carry out offshore data services unfettered by regime’s censorship.

But staff have to go through strict security checks to enter the district.

The news has drawn heated discussion on the Internet.

“Freedom of information has become a luxury that can only be found within the 10 square kilometer district; the authorities should feel ashamed,” one blogger commented.

“This is just a new foreign settlement, but in the Internet era, and history simply repeats itself,” another blogger wrote.

“The Cloud District is the Internet version of ‘Chinese and dogs not allowed,’” yet another blogger commented, referring to signs that would be put up in foreign settlements during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

While Beijing approved the development of the special district, other agencies in the vast Chinese communist bureaucracy have begun tacking on their own requirements.

For example, the special district will only be allowed to process data and send it out afterward. Only information processed by overseas international business companies is censorship free, whereas domestic branches of such companies do not enjoy the same privileges. Information processed inside and outside the special district will be strictly separated. And authorities reserve the right to randomly inspect the data processed inside the special district, according to the Southern Weekend’s report.

“These requirements may look simple, but carrying them out is not easy. It means that Chongqing must develop a new set of rules, with no precedence to go by,” the report said.

Whatever the case, most netizens hope the “Cloud District” will soon “expand to 9.6 million square kilometers, allowing all Chinese and Chinese enterprises to enjoy the same treatment,” as one blogger wrote.

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