China To Tighten Web Regulation

Tuesday, December 5th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

HONG KONG (AP) â€” In its latest effort to place restrictions on Internet usage, China intends to tighten regulation of online bulletin boards, Beijing's top telecommunications official said Tuesday.

Wu Jichuan, head of the Ministry of Information Industry, said the Chinese government was working on a ``better way'' to manage the Internet.

``Don't misinterpret this. The Chinese government absolutely is not saying people can't use these things, but we must find a more healthy way to manage them to ensure the protection of individuals' reputation and privacy,'' Wu told reporters on the sidelines of the International Telecommunications Union's conference.

``Anyone who has used the Web knows already that people always use false names. No one uses their own name,'' Wu said. ``If someone attacks someone else there is no way to catch them, no way to sue them.''

China has consistently sought to strengthen regulation of the Internet. Last month, the country added restrictions on Web sites offering news reports and required chat rooms to use only officially approved topics.

Those regulations, published in state-run newspapers in November, require general portal sites to use news from state-controlled media, seek special permission to offer news from foreign media and meet strict editorial conditions to generate their own news. Failure to do so could result in warnings, temporary suspension or permanent shutdown, the rules said.

Chinese leaders have been ambivalent about the Internet since its first explosive growth in China in the mid-1990s. They want to harness it for business and education while preventing it from becoming a tool of political discontent.

The difficulty over managing bulletin boards is one of many dilemmas China faces in its effort to police the Internet, which the communist leadership has accepted as a necessary but awkward tool for modernizing the economy.

Separately, Wu said on Tuesday that China would produce clear regulations on foreign investment in the telecoms business by the time Beijing formally joins the World Trade Organization, the Geneva-based body governing world trade rules.

He said Beijing was expecting that step to occur by the first quarter of next year, ending 14 years of efforts to join the international trade body.

``Telecoms requires interdependence and uniform standards. Regulations should not be decreased, but enhanced,'' Wu said.