December 23:
China has reinforced its internet firewall by blocking the leading virtual private network (VPN) services that allow people to circumvent government censors and access forbidden sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. At least three foreign companies - Astrill, WiTopia and StrongVPN - have announced that their VPNs have been slowed or disabled. The semi-official Global Times acknowledged the firewall had been upgraded and warned that VPN providers are operating illegally. International business transactions use VPNs to safeguard their transactions and keep censors and rival companies from seeing their corporate communications. Many foreign companies, particularly e-commerce companies and banks, use a combination of their own proxy network and VPNs to transfer information into and out of China, the New York Times reports.
December 27:
A bill to “strengthen protection of internet information” discussed at a National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee meeting on December 24 would require bloggers and bulletin board users to register using their real names. Microblog users were told to register by last March in a bid to curb “rumors and vulgarity,” but that was a directive not a law. The proposal, the whole text of which has not been released, will become law if passed by the NPC. Officially the legislation is intended to target online fraud, harassing emails, online vigilantes and privacy breaches, but it is also likely to scare off those seeking to expose corruption. Peking University Law Professor Shen Kui told the South China Morning Post that the proposal was actually unnecessary since the police can already use IP addresses to bust online criminals.
December 28:
As early as next month The Republic of China (ROC-Taiwan) will begin oil exploration in waters off Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island) in the South China Sea – a move certain to raise tensions with other claimants. During a meeting at the ROC legislature in Taipei officials approved a monthly budget of $583,670 for the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Mines and its partner CPC Corp, Taiwan, to survey for oil near Itu Aba. Coast guard vessels may accompany the oil exploration team, the Taipei Times reports.
[Editor’s Note: Itu Aba is the largest islet in the disputed Spratly Islands. In 2008, Taiwan finished a 1,150m airstrip on the island and this year reinforced it with T63 120mm mortar systems and L/60 40mm anti-aircraft guns, sparking protests from other claimants including Vietnam and the Philippines. On March 22 and again on March 26, ROC coast guard vessels intercepted Vietnamese patrol vessels in waters near Itu Aba.]
December 29:
The NPC Standing Committee has authorized Guangdong to bypass over two-dozen national laws while carrying out a pilot administrative reform program aimed at reducing bureaucratism and government waste. The decision “guarantees the procedural legitimacy of the proposed reform,” which is required because “unnecessary government intervention in the private sector has resulted in power abuses and rent-seeking,” the official China Radio International reports. On August 22, the State Council approved Guangdong’s reform program, but specified that items governed under national laws would require NPC approval. Since 2001, Beijing has made six attempts to clean up the bloated administrative approval system.
December 30:
Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong will relax school entry restrictions for the children of migrant workers. Currently, high school students sit for university entrance exams where they are registered, which locks out gifted migrant children from educational opportunities in cities. Reuters reports that the new rules are more detailed, but will also continue to exclude the majority of migrant children. Beginning in 2013 and 2014, Beijing and Shanghai, respectively, will allow migrant children to sit for their university entrance exam at their school, but they will still be processed in their legal hometown. Starting in 2016, however, Guangdong will be the first to allow migrant children to take the exam and apply to university alongside urban residents.