The igniting power of the internet – the WTO column

(Soon also at Chinabiz)

Who reads mainly traditional foreign news sources on China might have heard over de past week about a halfhearted attempt of China’s internet censors to block the English-language service of Google News. The story was greatly blown out of proportions since everybody who wanted could easy watch those pages, unlike two years ago when a blockade of major Google services cause a major disruption of the internet.
What is more troublesome it that because of the one-side focus of most western media on backlashes by China’s old forces, the worlds misses the lightening changes taking place in this country because of that same internet. That other side of the story deserves some attention.

When you are familiar with the Niu Niu story and the brawl of NPC-delegate Wang Tingjiang at the Weifang airport in Shandong province, you do not have to read on. But I’m afraid for too many readers it will be news indeed, because foreign media get their stories mostly from the censored state media, much less from the internet.
The stories are not big in comparison with the 166 dead miners in Shaanxi province, who died because of neglect of the management and local authorities. But they illustrate a trend of how China is changing.
Niu Niu, the nick name of a daughter of a vice party secretary in Shenzhen, made a movie about studying overseas, something only the elite can afford to do. The result was not that great according to reviews, but departments of the Shenzhen municipality advised their school to visit the movie, costing a 20 Renminbi per person. Parents protested on the internet, because they could not afford such a study abroad and even thought the price for the ticket was outrageous. Mainly through bulletin boards, opposition rose against the move, her father has to apologize and it sparked off a China-wide discussion on misuse of power.
NPC-delegate and private business man Wang Tingjiang caused a brawl at the Weifang airport earlier in the week as he and his delegation left the plane. The reason is still unclear, but they attacked airport police, ground staff and stormed the secure area of the airport building. Local censors tried to suppress the story, but it raised a storm on the internet and the ongoing story will get a long tail for NPC-delegate Wang.
They are only two fairly recent examples. In dozens of cases issues have been picked up by internet users and their actions made a difference.

What these examples show it that not only Iraqi prisons have a problem in keeping their scandals under wraps. Local authorities in the past routinely banned stories on scandals to keep them out of sight of the larger public and, more importantly, out of sight of the central government in Beijing. They cannot get away with it anymore, and it will be more common that they will have to take responsibility for their actions. Also the central government increasingly uses the information to tighten its grip on local governments.
This increased transparency will not only affect local governments, since barriers for communication come down everywhere. Publishing becomes affordable for everybody also companies will have to watch their steps more closely. Employees of different subsidiaries can now talk to each other, and they will. Promises done in one place, will be known in others.
Rumors, true or false, will spread with lightening speed over China, and increasingly also over the rest of the world. Globalization means increasingly also empowerment of the exploding virtual community of now almost 111 million Chinese internet users.
Transparency has been officially high on the agenda of visiting political dignitaries when they meet their counterparts in Beijing. But that officially wanted transparency will come at a price, and all participants will have to take those changes into account.

Fons Tuinstra

PS: The Washington Post comes with a less optimistic story from Harbin. Surprisingly enough they are able to write a story about censorship and media in China, while only talking to their colleagues of the traditional mainstream publications and not mention the internet.