The Chinese government is angry at Hillary Clinton for discussing what is basically an inarguable fact of life that China blocks social-media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, and restricts Internet access for various political purposes. In her speech, Clinton “said the U.S. is making free access to the Internet a foreign-policy priority,” and “criticized the kinds of methods frequently employed by China’s government to censor Web content.” China, somehow, takes umbrage with this. “We urge the U.S. side to respect the facts, and to stop using the so-called Internet freedom issue to make groundless charges against China,” a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement today. Ahem “so-called Internet freedom”? Answer us one question, China. Can your people watch this video of an adorable cat falling asleep? No, right? Until they can, they will never truly be free.
Google this, USA! China says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Internet freedom speech harms ties [NYDN]
China Hits Back at Clinton on Net Freedom [WSJ]
