Highlights

No absolute free flow of information

By Zhu Yuan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-01-26 16:49

There is no way for any government in any country to allow absolute free flow of information on the Internet. Censorship on the Internet does not mean the prohibition of freedom of speech or free publication of information since not all information is good for those who serf on the Internet.

Pornography is detrimental to the healthy development of children. We have examples of how some youngsters rape girls and even kill them when they resist after they watch pornographic videos on the Internet. So Chinese government is firm in cracking down on such contents. And many parents throw their weight behind the government’s crackdown on porno contents on the Internet.

We don’t think that the United States government allows terrorists to facilitate their terrorist activities with the Internet. Bush administration even gave CIA and FBI green light to intercept emails of their citizens and overhear some people’s phones, the act of which is blatantly in violation of relevant US law and human rights.

It is quite natural for Chinese government to censor the information that will have an impact on the national security and social stability of China. We do this because national security and social stability are in the interest of the Chinese people.

China has been left far behind developed countries in most part of the last century because of civil war and political movements in the several decades after New China was founded. We cannot afford any social upheaval to delay our development to catch up with the developed countries. Neither can we afford any disruption to our economic development and social progress that will be caused by social instability.

We know that our people need more freedom of speech. We also know that we need to make progress in developing democracy. But social instability and national security should never be the price to pay. Look at the progress China has made in social democracy and freedom of speech.

Don’t point fingers at us. We know what we are doing. Rome is not built in a day.