China cites India's example, calls Internet shutdown a 'standard practice in emergency'

Internet shutdown in Assam and several other places across India following violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act has been used by China to defend the Xi Jinping government's restrictions on usage of internet among its citizens.

The People’s Daily Online, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China, recently issued an article that stated that “shutting down the internet in a state of emergency should be standard practice for sovereign countries” while quoting India’s example.

The publication cited Internet shutdown in Assam and Meghalaya, where services were suspended after massive protests broke out against the new citizenship law. In Assam, mobile internet has been shut since December 11 evening. Services have been suspended in Meghalaya as well.

Noting that India is the world’s second-largest internet market with 650 million connected users, and Assam and Meghalaya alone has 32 million netizens, the article argued, “India did not hesitate to shut down the internet in these two states to cope when there is a significant threat to national security”.

The article then lamented that when China had responded with a similar strategy in the Xinjiang region that faced a similar national security threat a few years ago, it was sharply criticised by mainstream media in the United States and Europe.

In further criticism of the US and Europe over the issue, it said these countries “strive to spread their jurisdiction online and squeeze the sovereignty of developing countries”.

“The internet cannot be independent of national sovereignty. It is a routine operation for governments all over the world to manage the internet based on national interests, including shutting down the internet in a state of emergency,” concluded the article.