Imagethief was interested to read today all about the interesting things oozing out of the Internet Governance Forum current taking place in Athens. First, of course, US Internet firms are, as always, under pressure for their complicity in the Chinese government's censorship regime. The usual arguments are being thoroughly rehashed.

However it appears that those concerns might be completely misplaced, as Chinese government delegate Yang Xiaokun has, during an interview with the BBC at the forum, made the blockbuster revelation that China has no censorship. From an article by CNET's Declan McCullagh, the money quotes (edited to add Yang Xiaokun's name, not mentioned in McCullagh's article):
Yang Xiaokun: We have talked a lot about China, and that's rather strange, because if we participate in forums like this, I think that we should spend more time reflecting on the issues that have been raised.

There are millions of Chinese that have no access to the Internet. We are here because we would like to promote openness. But we have not really raised the issue of how we could participate more fully and how we could have better access to the Internet.

We need to also protect tourists in our country. And I have to say that I am a Chinese citizen, and I feel that I need to be protected. For example, we are threatened by terrorism. We do need protection. So we should be sure that everyone can come to China, enjoy our beautiful country, and I heard with great interest what our Pakistani colleague said.

I don't think we should be using different standards to judge China. In China, we don't have software blocking Internet sites. Sometimes we have trouble accessing them. But that's a different problem. I know that some colleagues listen to the BBC in their offices from the Webcast. And I've heard people say that the BBC is not available in China or that it's blocked. I'm sure I don't know why people say this kind of thing. We do not have restrictions at all.

Nick Gowing, BBC anchor and session moderator: Would you like to elaborate on that?

Yang Xiaokun: How can I elaborate on it if we don't have any restrictions?

Some people say that there are journalists in China that have been arrested. We have hundreds of journalists in China, and some of them have legal problems. It has nothing to do with freedom of expression.
Remarkable. Dodgy bunch, those journalists, always getting thrown in jail for god-knows what transgression completely unrelated to their coverage. Tax cheats and child abusers, the lot of them. Also, given that there is no censorship, and my Internet access problems here in Beijing are obviously a collection of random, coincidental technical faults, I'd say that my ISP had better get cracking before I ask for my money back.

Reading Yang's comments, I was reminded of this old chestnut from Monty Python's Flying Circus:
Sir John: Ah, hello. Well first of all I'd like to apologize for the behaviour of certain of my colleagues you may have seen earlier, but they are from broken homes, circus families and so on and they are in no way representative of the new modern improved British Navy. They are a small vociferous minority; and may I take this opportunity of emphasizing that there is no cannibalism in the British Navy. Absolutely none, and when I say none, I mean there is a certain amount, more than we are prepared to admit, but all new ratings are warned that if they wake up in the morning and find toothmarks at all anywhere on their bodies, they're to tell me immediately so that I can immediately take every measure to hush the whole thing up. And, finally, necrophilia is right out.
I wonder if anyone in Beijing understands how much comments like Yang's completely undermine their credibility. He would be far better off admitting they have censorship --which is completely obvious to everyone in China-- and explaining why, from the Chinese government's point of view they do. Foreigners might not like or buy the arguments, but at least they wouldn't sound like ridiculous fantasies or an insult to people's intelligence. Also, if I was Yang's PR man (and I am not) I would counsel him to not touch the journalist issue with lead gloves. From the transcript, which is not complete, it looks like he raised it without even being asked, which constitutes PR suicide. Even if asked about it, he should bridge out of the issue entirely and not even address the question. Like it or not, censorship can at least be argued. There is no way to defend the jailing of journalists and it is a sure loser. He should simply explain that he's there for an Internet conference and steer the question back to Internet topics. He'll take enough pain as it is.

Sorry for that sordid glimpse into the inner workings of a flack's mind. I abhor the censorship and treatment of journalists here, but if they're going to prevaricate they should at least do it right. Fanciful statements like the above remind Imagethief of former Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, who denied vociferously in news conferences that American tanks were entering Baghdad as we all watched footage of American tanks entering Baghdad.

Update -- you say toMAYto: The Admiral has kindly written to me to point me to a web page from the Chinese embassy in the United States. The page is the transcript of an interview of Liu Zhengrong, deputy director-general of Internet Affairs Bureau under the State Council Information Office, by American journalists. In that transcript, Liu is quoted as saying (see his very last statement at the bottom of the page):
A few foreign websites cannot be fully accessed in China. The reason is that some foreign websites publish some content that is against Chinese laws. A Chinese Internet service provider (ISP) would follow the laws to implement some technical measures on these websites. This is fully understandable and also necessary. As you mentioned, there are no problems accessing many of the better-known websites from around the world, including well-known media websites, from China. Those not accessible are mainly the websites which carry pornographic or terrorist content.
So, there you have it. China doesn't censor the Internet. It simply blocks sites that are contravene Chinese law, as any right-thinking nation would. Yang Xiaokun was not, as I mistakenly thought, prevaricating madly. He was simply speaking the literal truth. We are fools for not having seen that. I'll be sending apology bouqets to everyone involved.