Quote to remember and comments on the Great China Firewall

From the New York Times 8/2/08 at the end of an article about how more Internet sites might be opened up for access soon:

Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing organizing committee, had said in an interview in Beijing in March: “The commitment we have obtained from the authorities is that there will be no restrictions for the media. You will have the same Internet access as you’d have at home.”

Of course in my own cynical way I bet Sun added under his breath, "if we were in charge at your home."

There is a long history of Chinese leaders and defenders not understanding that the way they have done business in their country and with their people does not work with the rest of the world. They use phrases such as "press freedom" and "democracy" but they apply their own definitions to those words. Anyone who lives and works in China understands that what Beijing describes as press freedom is not what the rest of the world accepts.

Reporters who are based in China were not surprised about the Internet blocks. It's a daily event and something to work around. There are complaints and criticisms to be sure. And there have been regular stories about how the authorities block the Internet and how the savvy computer users in China get around the Great China Firewall.

It was only after the press center was opened at the Olympic Village and reporters who have never been to China before started flowing in that the issue really came to the forefront.

And I still don't understand how anyone could be surprised this happened. It is a natural as breathing air for the Beijing authorities to attempt to control media access and information in a hamfisted manner.