China mocks US’ call for internet freedom
18 Feb 2014 5:38 AM IST
During an approximately 40-minute chat with bloggers in Beijing on Saturday, Kerry expressed his support for online freedom in China, as well as for human rights in general.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said outsiders had no right to pass judgement and misunderstood the real situation.
‘If China’s Internet had not gone through enormous development in the past few years then where would these bloggers have come from?’ she told a daily news briefing. ‘China’s affairs must be decided by Chinese people based on their own national condition. Using methods like this to push China in a direction of change they want, isn’t that rather naive?’ Hua added. ‘I think the topic of this discussion could have been even more open, for example discussing Snowden’s case and issues like that,’ she said, referring to the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor whose leaks have embarrassed Washington.
Last year, China’s Communist Party renewed a heavy-handed campaign to control online interaction, threatening legal action against people whose perceived rumours on microblogs.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said outsiders had no right to pass judgement and misunderstood the real situation.
‘If China’s Internet had not gone through enormous development in the past few years then where would these bloggers have come from?’ she told a daily news briefing. ‘China’s affairs must be decided by Chinese people based on their own national condition. Using methods like this to push China in a direction of change they want, isn’t that rather naive?’ Hua added. ‘I think the topic of this discussion could have been even more open, for example discussing Snowden’s case and issues like that,’ she said, referring to the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor whose leaks have embarrassed Washington.
Last year, China’s Communist Party renewed a heavy-handed campaign to control online interaction, threatening legal action against people whose perceived rumours on microblogs.
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