September 04, 2002

Internet users in China are unable to use Google, the popular internet search engine, after the Government blocked access to the site. Oliver August, Beijing Correspondent, explains why.

Has Google been completely blocked in China?

If you type in the usual web address, www.google.com, the page does not appear. Instead you receive an internal response from your computer telling you that the site is not available.

The Government will not admit that it has blocked a website, it will point to technical problems with individual browsers, but it is believed that computer technicians working for Beijing's State Security Ministry have disabled the search engine so it cannot be accessed by conventional means.

Why has the Government done this?

The Chinese Government is very unlikely to give an explanation - it denies that the site has been blocked. But the real reason is that Google, which has a Chinese language home page, has become very sophisticated at filtering information. It can be used for complicated searches about controversial subjects and political opposition.

There is speculation that this decision was triggered by a number of online searches for material about the banned spiritual group Falun Gong, [...].

Is this permanent?

The service has been unavailable since Saturday. It will probably not be banned permanently, but it is difficult to guess when it will become available again. Other foreign websites that have been banned in China have eventually had their service resumed, but only after lobbying the Government for some time.

Which foreign websites has the Government restricted before?

The sites of American and British media organisations. The New York Times was temporarily blocked, but the ban was lifted swiftly when a reporter interviewed the Chinese President and asked him to explain the decision - he was so embarrassed he had it stopped immediately.

The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times were also banned, but after continued lobbying their services were eventually resumed.

It is still not possible to access the BBC from China - the broadcaster has a particularly bad relationship with the Government, as it provides a Chinese language service to which the Government objects. Beijing dislikes controversial information being made available in English, but it objects much more strongly if it is accessibly presented in Chinese.

What will the knock-on effects of the ban be?

The clear short-term winner from this decision is Yahoo, which has not been stopped. Although Google is the only search engine to have been restricted, the decision is not just aimed at this site: it sends a message that Beijing is prepared to restrict any website that could be useful to its opposition. This is something that all internet companies will take note of. It could affect access to communication tools such as email and news groups as well.

How widespread is internet use in China?

Incredibly widespread - there are 48.5 million users, according to the China Internet Network Information Centre. Although few people have computers of their own there are internet cafés everywhere. Beijing has thousands of them, and it isn't just the cities, you can find them in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.

I was in a little town in the Gobi desert last year and used a 24-hour internet café which at midnight was still full of teenage girls emailing their friends.

Use of the internet is still growing here. It is believed that China will soon have the greatest number of internet users in the world, and there are predictions that it will become one of the top two internet languages - possibly even overtaking English.

The internet has not fulfilled its commercial potential in China yet - it is not yet used for ordering goods or services - but it is vital for communication and in only a few years has become a well embedded aspect of Chinese life.

Has there been much opposition to the decision?

People will have commented on it between themselves, but there is never much public debate about policy decisions in China.

Is the lack of access to Google a problem for you?

It is very annoying. Google is the most useful search engine if you are looking for general information rather than a specific site. I often use it if I am trying to get in touch with someone who has been quoted in an article - I punch their name into the search in the hope of finding a contact institution or address. But Yahoo is still available so there are ways of getting around the problem.

Are there any signs of negotiations to get the service back?

I am certain that behind the scenes Google will have been on the phone to the Government or a public relations firm with government contacts in order to persuade them to resume the service.

[...]

Google's strongest argument will be to point out that while you can use the internet to do any sort of search, it is a useful tool for precisely that reason. China has benefited hugely from access to the internet - facilitated by search engines. The internet, and the communications avenues it has opened are responsible for several percentage points of economic growth, so to infringe its use in such a fundamental way may endanger the country's economic success.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,343-403874,00.html