China hit back at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s challenge to the country to stop censoring the Internet, calling her claims groundless and warning that her remarks could harm bilateral relations.
China’s foreign affairs minister, Ma Zhaoxu, in a statement released on the ministry’s website, said, “We urge the U.S. side to respect the facts, and stop using the so-called ‘Internet freedom’ issue to make groundless charges against China.”
Xinhua, China’s major news agency, noted that Ma also insisted that China’s internet is open and freely developing, but that China operates its internet according to both international law and Chinese internal law. Western news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and others, highlighted that Ma also warned that the US needs to “properly handle differences and sensitive issues” to keep from harming US-Sino relations.
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton at the Newseum for her speech on Internet freedom. Photo credit: Department of State
In her speech at the Newseum in Washington, DC Thursday, Clinton said that the US is making international internet freedom a foreign policy priority. “The spread of information networks is forming a new nervous system for our planet. When something happens in Haiti or Hunan, the rest of us learn about it in real time – from real people. And we can respond in real time as well,” she said.
“In the last year, we’ve seen a spike in threats to the free flow of information,” Clinton continued, claiming that China was among several countries to step up censorship of the internet in their country. “On their own, new technologies do not take sides in the struggle for freedom and progress, but the United States does. We stand for a single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Clinton’s speech was closely watched by opponents of governmental censorship in China; some bloggers and Twitterers quoted by the paper saw Clinton’s speech as a “declaration of war” against an autocratic regime, while others were skeptical that the speech would actually result in real changes.
The Guardian also noted that while Clinton’s speech was critical of China, it was also cautious and that the US appears to be holding back on calling for a formal response to Google’s claims that hackers originating from China attacked their systems.
Ahead of Clinton’s speech, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said at a press conference that the situation with Google should not be linked to relations between the two countries, and that businesses wishing to operate in China should follow Chinese law.
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