China Slaps Ban on Internet News Reporting as Crackdown Tightens

[proverbialwisdom]

Source: Bloomberg News

July 24, 2016 — 9:25 PM PDT

China’s top internet regulator ordered major online companies including Sina Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to stop original news reporting, the latest effort by the government to tighten its grip over the country’s web and information industries.

The Cyberspace Administration of China imposed the ban on several major news portals, including Sohu.com Inc. and NetEase Inc., Chinese media reported in identically worded articles citing an unidentified official from the agency’s Beijing office. The companies have “seriously violated” internet regulations by carrying plenty of news content obtained through original reporting, causing “huge negative effects,” according to a report that appeared in The Paper on Sunday.

The agency instructed the operators of mobile and online news services to dismantle “current-affairs news” operations on Friday, after earlier calling a halt to such activity at Tencent, according to people familiar with the situation. Like its peers, Asia’s largest internet company had developed a news operation and grown its team. Henceforth, they and other services can only carry reports provided by government-controlled print or online media, the people said, asking not to be identified because the issue is politically sensitive.

The sweeping ban gives authorities near-absolute control over online news and political discourse, in keeping with a broader crackdown on information increasingly distributed over the web and mobile devices. President Xi Jinping has stressed that Chinese media must serve the interests of the ruling Communist Party.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-25/china-slaps-ban-on-internet-news-reporting-as-crackdown-tightens

[SheriffBob]

1. How will they know thar russia is going to nuke them

if trump is elected?

[Feeling the Bern]

2. VPNs are wonderful in China. Most people have them and no one cares if they are caught

Most everyday Chinese with internet and VPNs on their computers or phones get their news from Taiwan. They realize the mainland press is worthless.

Xi Jinping is losing grip on his control because the economy is failing. They don't want people in China to know this because the CCP has banked its entire future on economic growth. It has slowed down BIG time in China and Xi the Stupid doesn't want people to see that.

Even my wife, who is a Party member and, after being in the States for six months and now with me in Malaysia until our house in Wuxi is completed, realizes this won't work and will end poorly for the Party. She actively questions the Party to hardcore Party members and has told many to go get fucked because, as they say not knowing I speak fluent Mandarin, "get the foreign dog out of here because we don't want him around." Or the best one "why couldn't you marry a good Chinese man and not some worthless foreign pig? I could have introduced you to someone."

Look, don't take what happens in China to seriously. The Chinese people are used to it and know how to deal with the censorship. VPNs are wonderful.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Chinese racism & nationalism is a dark force. Need to expand Ch. middle class fast.

People always have to be wary of governments with slowing or failing economies (ex. Russia). The governments, especially oligarchic dictatorships (China & Russia), love to jack up racism, anti-LGBT bigotry & nationalism as a way to divert attention from the economy.

A prosperous and hugely populous Chinese middle class will not want any foreign wars.

Basically people want to be comfortable and relax in a hammock with a beer. This needs to be encouraged.

[DetlefK]

4. Not quite. The chinese model is not failing yet, but it's in a crisis.

The chinese citizens are loyal because of a good economy. In any documentary about China, you will always find people with stories how the communist party lifted their family out of poverty.

As unemployment doesn't exist in communism (IT DOESN'T!!! BECAUSE COMMUNISM IS BEST!!!) and because China needs this success-story to continue to keep the people happy, the economic boom must never end.

- China needs well-paying jobs. For everybody. Everybody.
- China needs resources to use in the industry.
- China needs to sell things.


The chinese economy exists to further the goals of the PRC (sound familiar?), so the chinese government is propping up failed chinese companies for the sole purpose of not letting those people go unemployed.

China desperately needs more and more resources to feed its economy. That's why they are expanding into Africa.

China desperately needs to sell. There is a surplus of chinese steel, because there's more steel lying around than people are buying. China has a surplus of empty buildings: Brand-new buildings nobody wants or needs and that just stand around, empty and unused.



Propping up such an economy costs money, lots of money.
And as China's population is growing, there are more and workers the chinese government has to supply with more and more jobs.
Costing more and more resources and more and more money.

[Feeling the Bern]

6. I live in China. . .Been here for eight years. It is failing fast.

They are doing to themselves what we did in 1929 because the CCP honestly believes rules of economics don't apply in China because "this is China." They are propping up failing businesses because if they allow them to fail, it is a massive loss of face, which is more important than being right or wrong there.

Unemployment is actually really high there. There are just not enough jobs for 1.4 billion people.
Home sales are dead as the cost of a new apartment is so insanely high only the wealthy can afford it
The highway and new high speed rail system were paid for by bonds which are about to mature.
Inflation is extremely high
The farms failed last summer, so vegetable and pork prices are insanely high now
The floods in Hebei and Henan have destroyed most of this year's wheat crop so wheat based products will inflate in price
Cancer and other health issues due to their massive addiction to smoking and their pollution are at record highs
It is one of the oldest countries in the world due to the one-child policy that was loosened only 2.5 years ago
They are the world's builder, but their customers are keeping their wallets closed.
With inflation and insane government corruption and overlapping bureaucracies, foreign investment is drying up. Add the overly authoritarian and repressiveness of Xi Jinping's new government (especially internet restrictions) and foreign companies are moving down to SE Asia and the ASEAN countries, as well as India. Malaysia has had a huge boom of foreign investment.

China is swirling the toilet. It's just a matter of time. And when the bubble pops, it will be heard popping on Pluto.

[DetlefK]

7. Thanks for the info.

[Marengo]

9. As I understand, the banking system holds an enormous load of bad debt as well...

"Ghost collateral" from failed businesses to name an example. The housing bubble is absolutely insane. The cost of housing is so outrageous, that many buyers are forced to take mortgages. This was very uncommon in China until the recent past. My in laws purchased an apartment in a new development last summer, and the price for new units going up for sale in the same complex has increased by 50% in less than a year. This is in Wuhan, and the problem is substantially greater in Shanghai, Beijing, and the like. Inflation is growing at a fast pace, and the promised benefits of focusing investment in the urban areas have not been realized by the rural population.

[DetlefK]

10. I don't get why the house-prices are so high in China. Could you please explain?

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31478-china-s-communist-capitalist-ecological-apocalypse

China is building like crazy, to keep people occupied. China has more houses than it needs. So why are prices skyrocketing?

Or are the prices of these new units so high because it's otherwise unprofitable to build them?

[Marengo]

11. As I understand it, speculation and the purchase of property as investment in part...

Several of my wife's friends own multiple properties and earn substantial incomes on rent, driving up the value. In the past, investment in property development contributed considerable funding to local governments, and in the perpetual growth model, there was severe pressure to show ever-increasing contribution to the published GDP plan. A lot of shady dealing and over-valuation resulted. I'm not sure how much this continues, I remember central government taking some reform action a few years ago.

[Marengo]

12. Forgot to add, it's also a reflection of what people are willing to pay. This seem obvious...

But in China, home ownership has an substantial social value. As an example, it can be extremely difficult for a man to attract a desirable spouse without either a home already owned, or the obvious ability or promise to purchase one after marriage. Something else, choice of location. I have noticed people becoming far more selective in what districts and even development projects they wish to live, and for variety of reasons. Many of the government sponsored housing projects which sit empty are located in areas people simply don't wish to live.

[Yupster]

5. I'm in China right now

Got the English version of the China Daily and it's pretty hard core propaganda. Too obvious to be effective.

[DetlefK]

8. I read an interview a while ago about a defector from NK.

He said that the people of NK don't know what's going on in the world, because they are so isolated. But they do know that the official NK-propaganda cannot possibly be correct.