Battle Heats Up Over Chinese Censorship

BEIJING — Just before Chinese New Year, Beijing shuttered Freezing Point, among China's most well-regarded and courageous publications.

Editors believed the move was timed to bury news of the crackdown. If so, it didn't work for long.

In a letter made public Tuesday, 13 former Chinese officials and senior scholars denounced the shutdown, saying, "History demonstrates that only a totalitarian system needs news censorship, out of the delusion that it can keep the public locked in ignorance."

Those who signed the letter, dated Feb. 2, included Li Rui, Mao Tse-tung's secretary; Hu Jiwei, a former editor of the official People's Daily newspaper; and Zhu Houze, a former propaganda boss.

The public battle over censorship of Freezing Point, a China Youth Daily supplement, was just one element of China's effort to control information.

Around the same time it shut Freezing Point, Beijing handed down a three-year sentence to journalist Li Changqing for providing "alarmist information" to an overseas website. It released a report card on its own censorship activities in which it boasted of banning 79 newspapers last year.

This month, Wu Xianghu, deputy editor at the Taizhou Wanbao newspaper, died after being severely beaten by police angered by an expose.

And Google Inc. announced last month that it would self-censor searches on its Chinese Internet browser in line with Propaganda Department guidelines.

Freezing Point ran afoul of authorities with a number of stories, including one that criticized what it called distortions in Chinese textbooks. Several lawyers, journalists and intellectuals called for its reinstatement before the Tuesday letter was released.

In the letter, the 13 former officials and scholars said, "Depriving the public of freedom of expression so nobody dares speak out will sow the seeds of disaster for political and social transition."

Other aspects of China's grip on information draw equal criticism.

The State Department said Tuesday that it had created the Global Internet Freedom Task Force to urge more openness in China and other countries, and to help U.S. companies decide how to respond to information requests that may result in punishment for dissenters.

China argues that it is not a heavy censor. In the official China Daily, Liu Zhengrong, an Internet overseer, said today, "No one in China has been arrested simply because he or she said something on the Internet." He maintained that China blocked only a few foreign sites.