Dictators and Internet Double Standards

[Commentary] More than 100 Chinese have been arrested and charged with "inciting subversion" for blogging about the Middle East demonstrations. When protest organizers used online tools to encourage people to go on "strolls" in cities across China every Sunday, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists reported harassment and beatings of foreign journalists trying to cover these silent protests. There is a disconnect between the enormous economic progress China has made over the past generation and the tight lid it keeps on their ability to communicate. Chinese people have more reason to be confident and optimistic about their future than did Arabs in authoritarian countries, but they also want to be free of both petty and large corruption of local and national officials throughout China. Reformers within the government know they sit on a tinderbox, but Beijing opts to clamp down instead of letting people vent frustrations. Strong-armed control over the Web may be the clearest sign of political weakness. "The Chinese authorities instinctively choose repression when confronted with any problem: lock up people, censor their writings, block the Internet," wrote veteran China watcher Frank Ching in the China Post last week. If this is really necessary, "maybe China is much more vulnerable that it would appear on the surface."