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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, it won't. China will simply call the papers a handiwork of western forces to undermine China. It will call the papers as baseless and fabricated. Nevertheless they will promise to investigate the issue further. Pause for a few months. The issue will be forgotten. Things will be as they were. Things like 'blowing up' happen in the west. Not so in the east. The west tries to advocate and follow democracy. The east tries to advocate and follow corruption. Corruption can buy corruption.
"Blowing up" doesn't happen in the West anymore, either. Have you seen any reaction to the Wikileaks Cable affair? The Snowden files? Nothing. 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. And protesting would only jeopardize what little they have to hold on to. It's over. They could release a video on corporate CEOs and heads of state feasting on human babies' ribs and nobody would do anything. It's not that people do not care: they just understand they're powerless and acting (or rather, not-acting) accordingly.
As an EU citizen, I'm appalled that Chinese citizens don't have free access to information and don't have free speech. This is wrong and goes against everything we believe in. It is our duty to spread our freedom to the world and demand that non-free countries become free. If necessary, we should use force. I'm advocating going to war with China and the United States for the good of the people in those countries. It's unacceptable for leaders to censor information that might make them look bad. We're free to speak out against our governments, spread any ideas we desire, and read or hear any information that might be available. That includes things that are damaging to our leaders. This freedom is a human right. We have a duty to demand human rights for all. If China doesn't allow free access to information, we should go to war with them. If the United States doesn't allow free access to information, we need to go to war with them, as well. Freedom is more important than even political and military alliances.
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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From what I've heard about China, this is a big deal. Living in or near China, people generally say they're allowed to talk online, even criticizing the government, so long as they don't plan to meet. As soon as the talk turns toward actions, it becomes verboten. (Someone living in China, please correct me if I'm wrong.)
So this must be quite a big deal. It'll be interesting to see whether there's aftermath to the censorship.
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
>China has been surprisingly open WRT to the Panama Papers
What are you talking about? This is an article about China censoring those papers. That is kind of the opposite of being "surprisingly open".
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.
Very simple, they have their money in Delaware, and because when they put your money there, they didn't have to go through some Panama based company, and hence, they are not on the list.
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!