The information control agencies of China’s Communist Party have joined forces to crack down on Internet civil rights activities since mid-April, according to the state mouthpiece Xinhua. Fifty-five websites have been closed down.
Over 20 of those targets were dedicated to defending civil rights, including “People’s Voice,” “Complaints and Reports 315,” and “Consumer Complaints 315,” as reported by VOA on June 13.
Liu Feiyue, director of Civil Rights and Livelihood watch of People’s Life in China (http://www.zgmsgc.net/), told VOA, “These should be websites established by human rights defenders or citizen journalists. They mainly defend human rights or report events happening to common people that the authorities are unwilling to report on. The authorities think they expose the dark side or negative news. These websites were established mainly to defend human rights, and are not official. The authorities may use this opportunity to shut them down.”
Liu said that in 2006 after only one month his website was shut down. Regime authorities regarded it as a “hostile” website and blocked it. Because the server is not in China, it cannot be totally blocked, but it’s difficult for people inside China to visit it.
On June 8 China Daily reported that in May 140 major Chinese websites, including sina.com, baidu.com, and qq.com, signed a self-discipline pact with the government vowing to never organize or take part in any form of illegal publicity on the Internet.
The agencies that combined forces to silence the upstart civil rights websites ere: China’s State Internet Information Office, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
Chinese Regime Shuts Down Over 20 Civil Rights Websites
The information control agencies of China’s Communist Party have joined forces to crack down on Internet civil rights activities since mid-April.
By Sunny Chao
Updated:
