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China Censors Online Discussion About Panama Papers (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BBC: China appears to be censoring social media posts on the Panama Papers document leak which has named several members of China's elite, including President Xi Jinping's brother-in-law. Hundreds of posts on networks such as Sina Weibo and Wechat on the topic have been deleted since Monday morning. According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the Panama Papers show that Mr. Deng acquired two offshore companies in 2009, at a time when Mr. Xi was rising in politics. State media appeared to black out the news. But many on microblogging network Sina Weibo and mobile chat network Wechat were discussing the topic on Monday morning, sharing Chinese translations of details of the story, including information on Mr. Deng. A hashtag created on the topic quickly trended. Checks by the BBC found that by the end of the day many of those posts had disappeared, with at least 481 discussions deleted from the hashtag's Weibo topic page, and other posts shared on Wechat also deleted. The website Freeweibo.com, which actively tracks censorship on Weibo, listed "Panama" as the second-most censored term on the network.
Upon further digging, I found out that weibo might be censored, but the "Panama Papers" has proven to be too hot to contain
http://www.jianshu.com/p/463d19e7f47a?from=timeline&isappinstalled=0
The above link is an example - it is a link from the Jian Shu province of China, and the author of the comment has dished out quite a lot of details, including the photocopy of the passport of the daughter of a former Chinese premier
I do not know how long the above link will remain valid - but the existence of the above link is a proof that the "Panama Papers" has spread throughout the Chinese online world
No riots. No boycotts. No calls for resignations. People are too busy worrying about their next meal - not what it will be but IF it will be - to protest.
The Icelanders don't agree.
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Really? Do a google search on "Panama Papers". Hell, it even has a wikipedia page on them. And no one stopping you from going to Guardian and reading them. I suspect the U.S. doesn't give a flying rat's ass about them. Not that many Americans had accounts with the Panamanian firm, those that do mainly seem to have them for purchasing property in L. America. Also, the U.S. has rather lax laws, so there was no need to go to Panama.
There is speculation that the U.S.'s own Panama, Delaware, will have to open up but I have my doubts. Their financial cesspool of legislation makes a lot of money for the state. Many companies incorporate there because of their lax laws. They are also the kingpin in bankruptcies...case in point, SCO, but they are small potatoes to what's really going on there.
The REAL problem with the Panama Papers is that they were turned over to the mainstream media outlets, who have ONLY published dirt on people who we already knew were dirty. And people are noticing:
http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2016/04/the-panama-papers-where-are-the-americans-000083
Here's a "partial list" of people named in the Panama Papers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_named_in_the_Panama_Papers
This article is not even findable via Google no matter how specific you are with the search terms:
http://undergroundreporter.org/something-oddly-missing-from-largest-leak-since-snowden/
Now, I know this is going to sound like conspiracy theory talk, but who benefits from this leak? Western power brokers, that's who. Their foreign contemporaries are all now embattled, especially that Icelandic guy who had the nerve to *gasp* allow the banks to fail after the GFC. What fucking cheek!
been living in China for 7 years now. I general it used to be like this. Around 2011 it really looked like the government relaxed its grip on censorship a bit.
However, in the last year things got worse. Xi has a much lower tolerance for people letting steam off, and he seems to be particularly concerned with his own image. Things are now censored far quicker than before and the regime seems to have lost most scruples as it realized how toothless the West is. Expect more show trials and confessions on TV and more sudden disappearances of people, regardless which passport they hold.