This isn't about money or protectionism. This is about information control. The government states what they wish the truth were as if it were true. This is not believable if there is other evidence, or even a broad discussion. Hence, viewpoints contrary to the government's "truth" must be stamped out.
Apparently Xi's predecessors did not think this was as important, but Xi seems to be old-school.
I do not think this is a good idea for China or the government. It seems like the government only has one solution for a problem: more control. More control is like pressurizing a container. The more pressure you put, the bigger the explosion when the container eventually ruptures. I don't think this is in the interest of anyone in China, so I hope they rethink things before the pressure gets too high.
China's still not developed enough. Foreign media and foreign freedom of the press doesn't mean all press are publishing good things, or things good for the public.
In a developed nation this is OK because the public has fewer problems to worry about and can devote the time to punish bad press or filter out bad actors. In China where people worry about many things including clean water and corruption, having to have to worry about a large portion of the population being swindled by a bad acting foreign media propaganda is a real concern. In the US if some nazi propaganda publication gets published its ok. Most people know well enough to dismiss them. In an undeveloped country this could potentially result in a nazi takeover. See impoverished Germany after World War I as an example.
This doesn't mean the Chinese government isn't spewing its own propaganda, but at the least its working well enough to drive economic growth at the moment, and they don't want to derail that with chaos or dissent.
> In China where people worry about many things including clean water and corruption, having to have to worry about a large portion of the population being swindled by a bad acting foreign media propaganda is a real concern.
And how are they gonna act against poisonous water and corruption if they cannot form a movement through some sort of free media?
> In an undeveloped country this could potentially result in a nazi takeover. See impoverished Germany after World War I as an example.
Do you really consider 1930s Germany undeveloped? Even a developed country is not impenetrable to propaganda. Just look at all the radical nationalists across all of Europe.
Yeah，Xi's recent action is just like turn the clock back 30 years,not just more foreign media control,but also more domestic media control.Also,a teacher of East China Normal University(华东师大)just committed suicide yesterday night,despairing with those bad news broadcasting from our national CCTV for about 20 minutes.
Apparently Xi's predecessors did not think this was as important, but Xi seems to be old-school.
I do not think this is a good idea for China or the government. It seems like the government only has one solution for a problem: more control. More control is like pressurizing a container. The more pressure you put, the bigger the explosion when the container eventually ruptures. I don't think this is in the interest of anyone in China, so I hope they rethink things before the pressure gets too high.