Don't renew your VPN subscription just yet. There may be no need for such Great Firewall of China software, because a high ranking official has said that the long contentious censorship of Western social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, along with search engine Google and its Gmail service, could finally be lifted in the near future.
On October 13, Quartz ran an article quoting Ren Xianliang, deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, about those Internet restrictions. He replied that the Internet bans could be lifted, though there would be one very major caveat.
"As for foreign Internet companies, as long as they respect China’s laws, don’t harm the interests of the country, and don’t harm the interests of consumers, we welcome them to enter China, where they can together share the benefits of China’s developing Internet,” Ren said at a press conference in Beijing.
Pessimists were be sure to point to the vagueness of Ren's statement, before griping about the country's demands for such Western tech giants to fall in line, a demand that may go as far as to include direct access to user files stored on their servers. Though such concessions may seem too unreasonable to some, they might very well be acceptable to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has appeared more than eager to break into the Chinese market as of late (so much so that he made a show of jogging in the smog during an earlier visit to Beijing this year, much to the delight of netizens, not to mention the snarkiest writers at this blog).
Ren's softening tone on censorship echoes comments made by the International Olympic Committee Vice President Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. on October 12, when he said that an unfettered Internet is "guaranteed in the bid,” for the Olympic Games, according to an article in the Hindu Business Line. Zhang Jiandong, Beijing vice mayor and vice president of the Winter Olympics organizing committee, concurred, saying: "During the 2022 Winter Games we will comprehensively open access to the Internet for all (Internet) customers, including at the competition venues, where athletes stay, and other areas.”
That being said, long-term Beijing dwellers are sure to recall similar open Internet pledges being made ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, promises that went unfulfilled with several critics not only lambasting Chinese officials as a result, but also the IOC for its lack of fortitude on the issue.
Still, as the world turns its eyes to China while the 2022 Winter Olympic Games draw nearer, there will no doubt added pressure to loosen online censorship. However, it will take more of an Olympian effort (rather than another light jog past Mao) to secure Zuckerberg and the rest of America's tech giants the access to China that they truly want.
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