China's Internet Crackdown Isn't Going Away
- Xi expected to secure another 5-year term at party congress
- During his time China has cracked down on web access, media
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Xi Jinping’s ascension to power in China five years ago raised hopes that the son of a reformist revolutionary would open the country wider to the West.
Half a decade later and the opposite has happened: China is in the throes of the biggest crackdown on freedom of expression and media in the internet era. Foreign companies complain of restrictions that hamstring operations and favor homegrown players. Police are shutting businesses and arresting civilians on message groups as Beijing plugs more holes in its “Great Firewall” blockade of blacklisted sites.