Blog 9: China blocks the New York Times Web site

This article is similar to my previous blog in the way that it details and speaks on Internet censorship. This article however, written by William Wan Correspondent for the Washington post, is about China’s decision to block the New York Times website early this morning. This decision by the Chinese government to block access to the New York Times website was spurred after the Times released a highly controversial article. This article detailed the mass amount of wealth accumulated by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. The article explained that the assets and belongings attributed to Prime Minister Wen’s family are worth at the very least $2.7 billion. Although government corruption is not new to the Chinese citizens this amount of corruption was very shocking. This was especially shocking as well because of the supposed intention of Chinese leaders to tackle government corruption at the November 8^th party congress. The article explains that Prime Minister Wen is an especially vulnerable figure to corruption charges because he has worked hard to create the image of a reformer pushing the system forward towards greatness. Despite the evidence China’s foreign ministry claims that the article produced by the times is a smear on China and has an ulterior motive. The foreign ministry claims that the blocking of the site was in accordance with laws and rules however he never denies the claim. The article was first posted on the Times’ regular site and then was translated and posted on the Chinese website but by then both websites had already been blocked by Chinese government. Eileen Murphy spokeswoman for the times released a statement saying, “We hope that full access is restored shortly, and we will ask the Chinese authorities to ensure that our readers in China can continue to enjoy New York Times journalism.”

            This article just shows how unjust laws on Internet censorship are. The Chinese people have a right to know that their government is hoarding money and involved in activities of corruption. The recent blocking by the Chinese government of the New York Times’ website will leave many Chinese citizens without important information that they have a right to know. This is an example of social inequality. The people with the power, specifically the government, are withholding information from the working class. This leaves the working class vulnerable to mass amounts of corruption and easily open to being taken advantage of. The government is embezzling and taking money out of innocent hardworking peoples pockets and this is not right; especially due to the fact that the gap within the country between the rich and poor is increasingly growing. It should be made unlawful for the government to control the Internet and what the people do and do not have access to.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-blocks-new-york-times-web-site-after-report-on-leaders-wealth/2012/10/25/a94707a8-1f02-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_story.html