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August 1, 2008
The Great Firewall of China --- or the Golden Shield Project, to give it its official name ---- is intended to prevent, deter and detect anyone who reads, downloads or publishing reports deemed to challenge the government's hold on power. Many of the banned websites, words and phrases are related to the government's so-called "five big enemies" or no-gone zones: Tibetan independence, Taiwan independence, China's Muslims in the western province of Xinjiang, the Falun Gong movement and dissidents.
In addition to these the list contains some foreign news websites and sites with content relating to, for instance, public health and environmental issues. The authorities also use keyword-matching tools which can identify suspect words or phrases.
The task of political censorship is made easier because almost all internet traffic between China and the outside world comes through a small number of gateways at one of three points located near the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in the south.
So what we have is a totalitarian political system using internet censorship, to keep the Chinese public locked in ignorance. It is part of a system that deprives the public of freedom of expression and uses its power so that nobody dares speak out.
We in Australia cannot afford to be superior on this issue and continue the old western game of insult, humiliation, and loss of face to China based on foreign arrogance. Though national humiliation narrative is very entrenched in Chinese culture since the Opium wars, state internet censorship in the process of being in place around pornography by the Rudd Government. Since such censorship is accepted by many in Australia---maybe a majority of its citizens---it is difficult to play the old game of reminding the Chinese that they are still not equal and they are still not good enough.
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