China has announced that it will step up its online monitoring to prevent “overseas hostile forces from infiltrating through the internet”, according to a Reuters report. Wang Chen, head of the Information Office of the State Council, announced last week that China’s 404 million internet users needed to be protected from “harmful information” including fraud and online hacking.
While some see it as a move towards better cybersecurity, others see it as an attempt to silence Tibetan, Uyghur and China’s minority people’s who all have large expat communities.
US-born Beijing resident Kaiser Kuo will give his unique insider/outsider perspective on China’s internet later this month at the Wheeler Centre.
