China tightens cybersecurity in Tibet ahead of 19th Party Congress/ENG

2017. augusztus 14/Phayul.com/TibetPress

eredeti cikk

By Tenzin Monlam

DHARAMSHALA, August 14: In the buildup to China’s all-important 19th Party Congress, the Communist party has been tightening security allover China and in the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) to avoid any ‘illegal activity’ that might disrupt the proceedings.

According to a report published in Tibet Daily, a crackdown has been launched in TAR to target ‘illegal activity’ particularly over the Internet to ensure smooth sail for the party’s important meeting in Beijing happening in the fall.

“Further actions will be taken to prevent problematic information distributed by Dalai Clique and other Western hostile forces and track down online circulation of negative information, hyper-speculation and rumors,” the report said.

Said to be targeting ‘pornography and illegal activity’ and to ‘safeguard national unity and social stability’, its ulterior motive (as mentioned in the report) is to counter ‘Tibetan independence propaganda’ and exercising control over the Internet communication.

Ahead of the Congress, the Cyberspace Administration has also launched investigations into popular Chinese social media platforms - WeChat, Weibo and Baidu. “Acting on tip-offs from internet users, initial investigations by the Beijing and Guangdong branches of the Cyberspace Administration found that [these] platforms are all hosting violent and terrorist content, fake news and rumors and pornography disseminated by users,” the agency said in a statement.

Guangdong-based author Ye Du told Radio Free Asia that the government is particularly keen to ensure that no shred of criticism or dissent is visible online ahead of the crucial 19th Party Congress later in the year.

“The government wants to eradicate any trace of ideological content that challenges the current regime,” he said. “There were already a number of important provisions in the Cybersecurity Law controlling the content that online news providers were allow to offer, and forcing them to engage in continuous self-censorship.”

Any Tibetan asserting Tibet’s identity or going against party’s ideology are considered as ‘splittist’ and many Tibetan singers, writers have been imprisoned for associating themselves with call for Tibetan culture, identity and mentioning the Dalai Lama’s name.

Reacting to the growing discontent expressed through such medium, China with its new ruling plans to ‘strengthen the supervision of music and dance entertainment programs’.