The
Epoch Times
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
According to reports from China Times, the highest authority
controlling all of the CCP's foreign propaganda, the International
Communication Office of the Central Committee has set up a new
internet communication department to manage internet communications.
This organization's authority is higher than the Internet Bureau
of the State Council Information Office, indicating that the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) has realized the rapidly increasing and
widespread influence of the internet. This has become a threat
to the authorities' major propaganda means via television.
By the third quarter of 2006, internet users in China have topped
137 million. These internet users are primarily aged from 18 to
24, making up 35.2 percent of the total population. Students are
still the main users of the internet at 32.3 percent. The internet
is becoming the most important platform for information dissemination.
According to China Times reports, at the 38th study session of
the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held on January
23, Hu Jintao made a speech titled "Strengthening Internet
Culture Development and Management with an Innovative Spirit".
He said that proper internet management "Concerns the safety
of China's cultural information and state stability".
At present, mainland China manages its internet mainly through
departments such as propaganda, culture, industrial and commerce,
public security etc. Every department develops appropriate policies
from its own perspective and responsibilities. In spite of this,
due to a lack of coordination and also because these departments
are mostly at the bureau level, there is a need for a specialized
department at a higher level to carry out centralized control.
Analysts say that judging from recent actions of the authorities,
strengthening its media and control over the internet are the
current focus of the CCP. With the 17th Party Congress scheduled
for the second half of this year the following are believed to
be just the beginning of a series of controls:
China's Ministry of State Security, Public Security and Electronic
Communications Department, had once worked together to set up the
Golden Shield Project and even lured top notch electronics experts
from the US Silicon Valley with lucrative salary packages.
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