The Internet plays an increasingly vital role as a forum of public opinion in China as other forms of media remain under tight Communist Party control, though government restrictions on the Web will likely intensify, experts said at a recent symposium held in Tokyo.
The recent threat by the U.S. search engine giant Google to pull out of the world's most populous market over alleged cyber attacks and censorship has once again highlighted China's policy of controlling content on the Internet.
In recent years, rising numbers of Chinese citizens have been using the Internet to express their views and exchange information on social issues, but the Communist government will try to put the Web under increasing controls all the more for its potential as a tool for social change, the experts said.