BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government has declaredvictory in cleaning up what it considers rumors,
negativity andunruliness from online discourse, while critics say the moves havesuppressed criticism of the
government and ruling Communist Party.Beijinglaunched the campaign this summer, arresting dozens of people
forspreading rumors, creating new penalties for people who post libelousinformation and calling in the
country’s top bloggers for talks urgingthem to guard the national interest and uphold social order. At the
sametime, government agencies at all levels have boosted their onlinepresence to control the message in
cyberspace."If we shoulddescribe the online environment in the past as good mingling with thebad, the
sky of the cyberspace has cleared up now because we havecracked down on online rumors," Ren Xianliang,
vice minister of theState Internet Information Office, said during a rare meeting this weekwith foreign
journalists.A study by an Internet opinionmonitoring service under the party-owned People’s Daily newspaper
showedthe number of posts by a sample of 100 opinion leaders declined bynearly 25 percent and were overtaken
by posts from government microblogaccounts."The positive force on the Internet has preliminarilytaken
back the microphone, and the positive energy has overwhelmed thenegative energy to uphold the online
justice," said Zhu Huaxin, themonitoring service’s general secretary, according to a transcript
postedby state media.Observers say the crackdown has noticeablycurtailed speech by suppressing voices and
triggering self-censorship,with more liberal online voices being more ginger in their criticism andposting
significantly less.Even Zhu suggested the campaign mighthave gone too far. In one example, Web users
refrained from repostinginformation and commenting on the government response to a severe floodin the
eastern city of Yuyao in early October. A year ago, they weregarrulous in questioning Beijing’s drainage
system when a rainstormravaged the city. "It is a reminder that we must strike a balancebetween
crushing online rumors and ensuring information flow," Zhu said.Some critics say the moves may backfire
by eliminating an effective conduit for the public to let off steam."Ifthere’s no channel for the
public to express themselves, they may taketo the street," said historian and political analyst Zhang
Lifan, whoseonline accounts were recently removed without warning — possibly becausehe had shared historic
facts that the party did not find flattering."Thegovernments also can take pulse of the public opinion,
but if no onespeaks up, they will be in darkness," Zhang said. "It is so odd they arecovering up
their eyes and blocking their ears."The rise of theInternet in China has always been followed by
Beijing’s efforts to reinit in, and the latest challenge has been the explosive growth in socialmedia,
particularly microblogging, which has allowed users to sharefirsthand accounts and opinions with great
speed. Advocates of freespeech have applauded the technology as a strong boost to their cause.Asof June this
year, China’s microblogging services had more than 330million users, and WeChat, a mobile phone-based
instant messagingservice that allows users to share information with circles of friendsor subscribers, had
more than 300 million users, Ren said."The unexpected growth has caught people by surprise," Ren
said.ChenZiming, a Beijing-based political analyst, said Beijing’s apparentsuccess in grabbing control of
social media is a big setback for freespeech."They have always been able to control newspapers,
radiosand TV stations, but there have been some holes in the Internet, and themicroblogging was the last
hole," Chen said. "They have achieved theirgoal. When 10 percent of the accounts are banned,
additional 20 to 30percent of the users will not speak."Authorities in recent monthshave been arresting
microbloggers on the charge of spreading rumors ordisrupting the public order, including a teenager boy who
raised somequestions over a murder case online. Many intellectuals, writers, andjournalists have seen their
blogging and microblogging accounts removedaltogether. A Chinese-American businessman with a strong
onlinefollowing was arrested for soliciting prostitutes and paraded on statetelevision in a campaign to
discredit him.Chinese propagandaofficials have always seen the media — new or old — as a crucial tool
tosupport state rule and are wary of cacophony."The ecosystem forpublic opinion online has noticeably
improved, and that has created agood environment conducive to the overall work of the party of
thegovernment," Ren said, in touting the benefits of well-managed publicdiscourse.But the historian
Zhang said Beijing has failed to playby rules when it shut down critical but law-abiding
microbloggingaccounts. "They see critics as opponents," Zhang said. "That’s a stupidthing to
do."Despite claiming preliminary success in takingcontrol of the Internet, Beijing is likely to roll
out more regulations.In a guiding document for the next five or even 10 years, China’ssenior leaders have
mandated that the state must set the perimeters andthe tone for online opinion with "positive
guidance" and "management"and that the state should "standardize" how online
communicationunfolds.Political analysts say they predict the heavy-handedcontrol will continue. "They
are still pretty nervous about preservingstability," said Steve Tsang, a political scientist at the
University ofNottingham. "Given the political environment, I don’t see anyrelaxation."But known
for their ingenuity to circumventcensorship, members of the Chinese public may again push for more roomin
speech, said Willy Lam of the Chinese University of Hong Kong."I think the cat and the mouse game will
go on. People might be afraid now, but after a while, the old pattern will resume."Copyright 2013 The
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