“Every blogger is a modern-day Tiananmen Square,” said the Chinese blogger Yang Hengjun on June 3 at the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in Bonn. “The Chinese authorities have continued to increase Internet censorship over the last few years – even with the support of western companies.” He continued by saying that users and bloggers are under strict control and many websites are being blocked. According to Hengjun, one of the most famous bloggers in China, around 50 to 100 million Chinese people read blogs regularly.

His own blog, which he has been managing for two years now, reaches about 5 million people and even has fan clubs. He said that 20 years ago, during the protests at Tiananmen Square, there were only 300 users in China and there was a clear perception in Chinese society about what democracy means. “Today that’s different.” Hengjun said that blogs are the only Internet entities that aren’t censored. “The Internet gave people the right that was refused the last 1,000 years.” He went on to say that this has provided inevitable attention to topics like human rights and democracy. Even when a portion of the Chinese people is interested, “it still means millions of people,” said Hengun. “The urge to seize their rights grows among the Chinese people incessantly.” He said that bloggers and citizen journalists “are the real reporters.” But even for them, there are “absolutely taboo topics like Taiwan, Tibet, minorities and democracy.”

Günter Nooke, German Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid in the Foreign Ministry, said that it is “absurd that users that only want to discuss a topic like AIDS have been labeled dissidents by the Chinese government.” He went on to say that the American companies that support Beijing in the control of the Internet, “are only helping to delay a development that will happen anyway.” However, he said that time plays a major role in politics and that the German federal government “needs to point in the right direction in order to speed up development.” Nooke said that the potential that lies within blogs and social networks like Facebook is “daunting and dangerous” for those in control – their advantage is that “there is more creativity than there are devices.” He said that it isn’t so amazing that the authorities try to prevent communication among citizens. In China, it’s simply about “being allowed to communicate with one another.” He said that for this purpose weblogs are an important tool. “As soon as there are more people willing to claim this freedom, the lower the price will be to have it,” Nooke suggested.

The Chinese journalist and author Shi Ming said that the “Internet gathering place” was especially dangerous for authorities. He said that Beijing has realized this and now allows a limited range of content – also because the government itself doesn’t agree on all policies. He went on to say that the Internet has allowed for an expansion of the knowledge system with its range of informational opportunities. Today, we have more than just “the guidelines of the Chinese Communist Party for the classification of historical events like we did 20 years ago.” He said that with so many manipulative offers, like the news agency Xinhau, for example, Chinese users have trouble classifying information. He went on to say that most important is having information that people can compare – and that’s where weblogs and content providers like Deutsche Welle can play a leading role.

June 3, 2009