Tech News
E.U. commissioner: China won't talk about Internet censorship
By DPA
Jan 13, 2006, 10:58 GMT

Beijing - China on Friday rejected criticism of its censorship of the Internet as well as E.U. efforts to open a dialogue about it.

'They are not ashamed of censorship,' said Viviane Reding, the E.U. information society and media commissioner, during a visit to Beijing.

While the European Union is concerned about protecting its citizens from online monitoring and restrictions on the Internet, China is concerned about protecting the government in cyberspace, she said.

'We are not speaking the same language,' she said. 'For them it is a absolute normal way of behaviour.'

The international community has criticized China for blocking or removing politically critical information about the Beijing government on websites and blogs and bombarding websites with praise of government policies.

'The criticism we raise they ignore,' Reding said. 'They don't have the intention to start a dialogue on the subject.'

Reding said that in the E.U. view, the Internet does not belong to anyone.

'Nobody is controlling the content so far except the dictatorships in the world,' the commissioner said. 'Our aim is the free accession to information in the world.'

During her visit, Reding met in Beijing with Science and Technology Minister Xu Guanhua and Zhao Shi, deputy director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

She also signed an agreement to link up China to a new European high-speed Internet connection between research sites that will allow large amounts of data to flow significantly faster online.

On Saturday, Reding is to meet Wang Xudong, head of the Ministry of Information.