Internet – Regulation vs. freedom
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As part of public life, the internet functions as a place whereby countries express their concerns and maintain national interests. That's why we say open internet and mature censorship complement each other – just like the relations between freedom and laws. After the 9-11 terrorist attack, the US police were endowed with the rights to censor citizens' e-mails, or supervise communication among citizens even they don't get nod from the person concerned. Many western countries, including Canada, Australia, and Britain, have the same bill.
If the regulations are improper, the internet would become an unregulated hotbed of pornography and violence. Once the freedom of expression is abused, the internet will be alienated into tool for the force of anti-China.
As long as the internet is closely linked to national interests and security, regulations are indelible; China is tolerant to cultural and moral diversity, but cannot accept some big power's action of dumping their core value system through interfering into the integration of internet order.
Martin Jacques wrote in the Newsweek: "It (the State) is seen by the Chinese not as an alien presence to be constantly pruned back, as in the West, especially the U.S., but as the embodiment and guardian of society. Rather than alien, it is seen as an intimate, in the manner of the head of the household. It might seem an extraordinary proposition, but the Chinese state enjoys a remarkable legitimacy among its people, greater than in Western societies. And the reason lies deep in China's history. China may call itself a nation-state (although only for the past century), but in essence it is a civilization-state dating back at least two millennia. Maintaining the unity of Chinese civilization is regarded as the most important political priority and seen as the sacred task of the state, hence its unique role: there is no Western parallel. (Published January 16, 2010, from the magazine issue dated January 25, 2010)
Perhaps from such perspective, the West can understand more about the unique Chinese internet-ecology.
(This article was translated by Fan Junmei)
