Reuters reports China imposed new restrictions on freedom of the press. New rules require foreign media to seek approval from Xinhua, China's state news agency, to distribute news, pictures and graphics in China.
The rules also empowered China's state news agency to censor news distributed in China by foreign media and delete contents deemed forbidden. Forbidden content includes reports deemed to "endanger national security, fan ethnic hatred and racial discrimination or promote cults and superstition." In other words China will censor anything the Chinese government wants to censor.
Business licenses of foreign news agencies can be suspended or revoked if the news agencies break the new censorship rules. Xinhua will conduct annual reviews to decide whether to renew business licenses of foreign media.
When will China's development bring freedom to its people?
As is so often the case in China, all is not necessarily as it seems. First off, this "new" law really isn't new. Secondly, it is doubtful it will be enforced any more than the old one was. Thirdly, the underlying reason for it is probably more economic, than political.
Posted by: China Law Blog | Sunday, September 10, 2006 at 07:56 PM