
China to lift ban on Facebook, Twitter, NYT within Shanghai free-trade zone - weu
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1316598/exclusive-china-lift-ban-facebook-only-within-shanghai-free-trade-zone
======
paulgerhardt
The Shanghai Free-Trade Zone comprises about 2% of Shanghai's Pudong district
or less than 0.5% of the greater Shanghai area. Other reports[1] from the SCMP
indicate the government may want to make the entire Pudong district a free
trade zone if things develop smoothly.

Pudong is home to most of Shanghai's finance industry. The FTZ however is
centered on the Yangshan Deep Water Port. (Map of the FTZ [2], yellow
neighborhoods) The loosening of Internet restrictions around a _port_ gives
credibility to the idea that Pudong in general will see more developments like
this to come. This is significant because those initiating the plans to expand
the FTZ in Shanghai have faced the strongest _resistance_ from China's finance
and banking regulators[3]. Most banks in China can not engage in international
commerce directly so outside investments usually entail setting up a complex
JV with a China based company with terms that strongly favor the embedded
players.

What's interesting to see here is the government is using the opening up of
Internet restrictions as a carrot in part of a larger play to promote economic
growth while the opposition is coming from the entrenched players in an
industry which otherwise stands to make huge gains by introducing more
competition. Framed like that, the situation is very analogous to American
cell phone carriers with regards to spectrum control.

[1] [http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-
finance/article/1303462...](http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-
finance/article/1303462/shanghai-free-trade-zone-may-be-extended-cover-pudong)

[2]
[http://www.waigaoqiao.gov.cn/SysAdmin/upfiles/2006-4-27/6328...](http://www.waigaoqiao.gov.cn/SysAdmin/upfiles/2006-4-27/632817353665707532.jpg)

[3] [http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1282793/li-fought-
str...](http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1282793/li-fought-strong-
opposition-shanghai-free-trade-zone-plan)

~~~
nodata
Interesting - but I have to ask, what's with the italics?

~~~
r0h1n
I almost missed them, but now that you've pointed it out I can't _not_ notice
it.

Maybe the _port_ isn't really a port, but the nerve center of China's secret
Internet resistance? Which is why it's _resistance_ and not resistance.

Sorry, couldn't resist it :-)

------
devx
Does it come with an arrest if your post gets liked 500 times, too?

[http://www.dailydot.com/news/china-teen-arrested-
rumors-500-...](http://www.dailydot.com/news/china-teen-arrested-
rumors-500-retweets/)

~~~
lvturner
Because other countries would never detain you based on what you said on a
social network...

[http://www.zdnet.com/blog/london/think-before-you-tweet-
why-...](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/london/think-before-you-tweet-why-two-
teenagers-were-refused-entry-to-the-u-s/2802)

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330809/Lee-Rigby-
de...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330809/Lee-Rigby-
death-11-people-UK-arrested-making-racist-anti-religious-comments-online-
British-soldiers-death.html)

[http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/nov/12/kent-man-
arrested-...](http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/nov/12/kent-man-arrested-
burning-poppy)

~~~
adamnemecek
Two wrongs don't make a right?

~~~
lvturner
Absolutely, but every post like this is followed by a nay-saying comments.

This is a step in the right direction for China, why tarnish a positive with a
tangentially related negative, sarcastic and dismissive comment?

Furthermore the 500 likes/shares rule, is at least a rule (even if it is
ridiculous), in the rest of the world it tends to just be done at random,
cherry picking laws to get a prosecution.

China is no saint, we all know that, but surely relaxing restrictions should
be seen in a positive light and as a sign of overall progression?

~~~
contingencies
Perhaps they are planning to trial a new foreign commercial intelligence
gathering platform with high value trade targets who would congregate in that
zone?

Fun fact: when the new Shanghai port opened ~2004ish, I did the voiceover for
the promo video. (I was double sure to include the phrase: _My voice is my
password. Verify._ )

------
lvryc
Some context: I don't actually know how useful this will be. Most foreign
companies already use VPNs to Hong Kong or the US. Almost all the expatriates
I know have personal VPNs set up as well. Astrill
([https://www.astrill.com/](https://www.astrill.com/)) is the name I've been
hearing nowadays.

I also discovered recently that more tech-savvy locals can also buy ways to
jump the "Great Firewall" ridiculously easily - even right off of Taobao,
which is the Chinese version ebay. (If you're interested, just search for
"IP代理." I think it's about 8-15 RMB a month?)

This free-trade zone is tiny, and in the middle of nowhere. [Edit: things may
be different if it's by Shanghai's port; I wasn't aware of that.] The most
potentially exciting part about this news is that the government is _thinking_
about extending this relaxation to all of Pudong, which is home to Shanghai's
new financial and business district. Pudong effectively the CBD of Shanghai,
but otherwise essentially is like the south side of London's Thames: most
people live on the other side of the river, where the culture, excitement and
history is. In other words, the vast majority of Shanghai's 20 million
residents _still_ won't be able to access Facebook... which is why this isn't
half as big of a deal as it appears. Then again, I suppose it is exciting that
there will now be a portion of mainland China where the government is actively
letting people access Facebook.

~~~
jcampbell1
The GFW isn't as big a problem as the shitty broadband in China. $50,000
USD/month buys the equivalent of a $99/month Time Warner business connection.
The GFW is a problem because every router in the country is doing filtering
and dropping connections, causing high latency and making broadband very
expensive.

I agree that this means little for Facebook or Twitter, but it likely means
that in a few years multi-nationals will actually have usable video-
conferencing and internet connectivity that works and doesn't cost a
significant fraction of each employee's salary.

------
lvturner
Time to set up a VPN endpoint in Shanghai :)

~~~
PakG1
You didn't already have one to get past the wall in the first place? :P

~~~
lvturner
Several ;) But they all require hops out-with the country

~~~
PakG1
I see what you're thinking there. :)

------
schuke
Symbolically it could mean a lot. Imagine a tiny part of the US where gun
ownership is completely banned. How would the Republicans react to that? I
still doubt if the leftists in China would really let this happen.

~~~
stefan_kendall
You mean like Washington DC? Plebeians are unarmed, and every political stooge
is surrounded by armed guards with automatic weapons.

~~~
mccr8
Gun ownership is not completely banned in DC.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_the_District_of_Col...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_the_District_of_Columbia)

~~~
Wingman4l7
Concealed carry is prohibited, which is clearly what he's referring to.

------
rwmj
So if someone ran a proxy within the FTZ, everyone could proxy through that
out to the free world?

------
chj
It might be a good place for companies like Amazon to set up a data center
there.

~~~
outside1234
Azure is already in Shanghai and inside of the firewall.

------
kezz
Great! Finally China can be as shallow and self-centered as the west. Can't
wait to see chinese people posing with their friends "having fun" or
pretending to eat sushi for that extra cultural and intellectual status.

~~~
MichaelTieso
"eating sushi"? - wrong country...

~~~
kezz
Eating sushi because it's not local, ie. exotic. Since facebook was introduced
it's one of the ways to promote yourself and your supposed extraordinary
lifestyle online.

~~~
KMag
The GP may have been pointing out that many people in China still have hard
feelings over WWII atrocities. I have a Japanese friend who pretended to be
Korean when she was living in Beijing because of the hostility she
experienced. I think the most blatant hostility she experienced was when her
cover was blown because her mother (who can only understand Japanese) called
while she was in a cab. The cabbie heard my friend speaking Japanese, and
because of that pulled over and made my friend get out.

------
ivanbrussik
anyone know roughly how many users this will be?

~~~
marme
not very many as the free trade is mostly unpopulated and mostly filled with
construction sites and no residential buildings. Maybe after more companies
move their offices there you will see more users. But they will all only be
able to access facebook only from their office so it is not like there will be
that much new traffic to these sites

~~~
chrischen
And when the companies move there, they'll just end up blocking facebook
anyways to increase employee productivity!

------
antocv
These countries, Iran and China probably knew that Facebook is a huge spying
machine and kept their citizens safe.

~~~
kshatrea
<snark>

More like, they didn't want any competition with the government. </snark>

~~~
wisty
Ma Huateng (Tencent's CEO, aka the boss of QQ) isn't the government. He's just
married to the daughter of a _very_ prominent party member. But ... I can't
remember who. (It's either Wen, or Hu - one of the former big two). And it's
not on the front page of Google (black hat SEO?).

~~~
jckt
I think by competition he/she meant spying and not social media?

