By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
BEIJING, China– Police in China have arrested yet another influential blogger and are detaining a cartoonist in the government’s ever-expanding crackdown on online “rumor-mongering”, said friends and a lawyer for one of them on Thursday.
Hundreds have been detained since August, according to Chinese media and rights groups, as the government has stepped up its efforts to wipeout rumors. Most have been released, but some are still being held pending criminal charges.
This latest example, targeting bloggers, appears to suggest the new government, led by President Xi Jinping, is expanding its crackdown on dissent, although some critics have warned the move could backfire on Communist Party leaders.
“The use of these dictatorship tools to combat the criticism and grievances within civil society could be counterproductive,” said Zhang Lifan, a historian, adding that it could fuel mistrust. “It may not be beneficial for maintaining the regime.”
Dong Rubin, 51, who runs an Internet consulting company, has been arrested in southwestern Kunming on “suspicion of falsely declaring the capital in his company’s registration”, state news agency Xinhua said late on Wednesday.
Dong was suspected of illegal business operations and the crime of “creating disturbances,” Xinhua added.
Dong, who was previously asked by officials in southern Nanjing to speak about being an “online opinion leader”, is well known for participating in a 2009 online probe into the sudden death of a man in a detention house in Yunnan province.
State broadcaster CCTV showed images of Dong admitting to “exaggeration and selectively publishing information” to benefit clients. In September, state media also aired a confession by Chinese-American venture capitalist, Charles Xue, one of China’s best known online commentators.
In Beijing, cartoonist Wang Liming was taken into custody at midnight on Wednesday and has not yet been released.
Wu Gan, a close friend of Wang, spoke with Reuters. Wu said police told Wang’s girlfriend they summoned him for forwarding a microblog post about a stranded mother holding a baby who had starved to death in the flooded eastern city of Yuyao.
“Suppression of this kind by the Chinese government is of no use,” Wu said. “Rumors arise because there’s no freedom to communicate on the Internet. Arresting people will not solve the problem because the problem does not lie with the people, but with the government.”
The detentions come just over a month after China unveiled tough measures to stop the spread of what it called “irresponsible rumors,” threatening jail terms of up to three years if false online posts are widely disseminated.
China’s top court and prosecutor have said people will be charged with defamation if online rumors they create are visited by 5,000 internet users or reposted more than 500 times.
Liu Hu, a Chinese investigative journalist accused of corruption was arrested on a defamation charge late in September.
The internet censorship reveals the insecurity of the leaders of the ruling Communist Party, said Bo Zhiyue, a professor of Chinese politics at the National University of Singapore.
“They are trying to send China back all the way to the Stone Age,” Bo said. “Where is the hope for political reform? Zero.”
For more information, please see:
Voice of America– 2 Chinese Bloggers Arrested in Crackdown on Rumors — 17 October 2013
Epoch Times– Fight ‘Hostile Western Forces’ on Internet Says Chinese General — 16 October 2013
Jakarta Globe– China Holds Two Bloggers as it Expands Crackdown on Rumors — 17 October 2013
Reuters– China holds two bloggers as it expands crackdown on rumors — 17 October 2013
New York Times– In China’s Campaign Against Bloggers, a Burst of Rumor-Mongering — 16 October 2013
