China Tries to Limit Internet Vitriol Toward the West

Via LATimes.com -

As Chinese nationalism flares across cyberspace, the government is growing concerned that passions could spill over into the real world, and that anger directed against foreigners could turn inward.Critics contend that Beijing has had a role in fanning the xenophobic sentiment to counter international condemnation of its crackdown on Tibetan rioters, but now Chinese officials appear to be trying to rein in the vitriol.

Chinese censors have quietly warned cyber-police and Internet businesses to delete all information related to protests against Western policies, nations or companies that have proliferated in the wake of demonstrations surrounding the global Olympic torch relay and high-level calls to boycott the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in Beijing.

The notice issued this week by China's "Internet Inspection Sector" instructs recipients to reset the keywords used to block access to certain websites, relay the instructions through all Internet distribution channels and delete the notice in a timely manner.

The censors' notice cites the danger that Internet-fueled emotions could lead to unrest."Internet users are in a most intense mood toward Western countries," it said. "Such information has shown a tendency to spread and, if not checked in time, could even lead to events getting out of control as they did with the April 9 incident against Japan."

That was a reference to April 2005, when demonstrators attacked Japan's embassy in Beijing and consulate in Shanghai, burned Japanese goods and beat Japanese citizens because of Tokyo's bid to join the U.N. Security Council and over Japanese textbooks that downplayed Tokyo's World War II aggression.