Following reports emerging in media all over the world over the past two days claiming China was to put an end to VPN use once and for all, the State has taken the surprising move of issuing a quick rebuttal.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology made the announcement yesterday afternoon that, “Our subordinate Secretary did not issue the relevant notice, as was falsely reported by foreign media”.
The statement has been published through official Chinese media, and therefore in this case, there can be little doubt that it is true.
The false reports, and yesterday’s denial, made specific mention of VPN use by individuals. For many in China, VPNs are a quick and easy way to access sites such as Facebook and YouTube, yet the bulk of VPN traffic in China is large scale corporate use, by firms requiring secure data storage and protection during, for example, transfer to and from abroad.
China has many justifiable concerns over coverage of her carried by foreign media. This latest development reflects badly on news organisations that often carry scare-mongering negative stories of China simply because they sell well.
The fascinating part of yesterday afternoon’s announcement is that while China’s Great Firewall is ostensibly in place to protect the populace from content deemed inappropriate (for many reasons; not only political), the quick and stringent public announcement that there are legitimate ways to bypass the firewall reveals a China that is growing ever more confident in her Information Technology policies.
Truth as they say, is stranger than fiction.
