Why has China suddenly decided to block VPNs?

Here’s some worrying news: the Chinese government has begun blocking VPNs, which has so far been the only way to access uncensored internet in the Asian giant. Used above all by expats, tourists, temporary visitors and companies trading overseas, these Virtual Private Networks allowed people to establish internet connections seemingly from another country, and use an IP address outside China from which to be able to use services theoretically blocked by the Great Firewall.

For most of us in the West, China continues to be a big place a long way away, and whatever goes on there is the problem of the Chinese. But for those of us who visit the country periodically, or for those living there as expats or trying to do business, the reality is very different, and a good VPN is essential to access perfectly normal services. If you’re reading this in China, you will have found that many of Google’s services, including email, can’t be accessed, and neither does Twitter, Facebook, and many news sites from around the world. Pages such as Great Firewall of China and some others provide information on whether the services you usually use are available there. If you take your laptop in a trip to China you will likely find the experience of using it very frustrating and have to accept not being able to access sites and services that have been censored for no seemingly good reason by the authorities.

The decision to block VPN services is just another step in the escalation of the censorship exercised by the Chinese government, a way of making life difficult for a tiny percentage of the population that has no intention of overthrowing the system there, but simply wants to be in touch with the outside world. It’s a way of reclaiming sovereignty of its cyberspace, as though such a thing existed, explained by the country’s docile media on the basis that service providers play by the rules.

This latest event is deeply worrying, not just because it has prompted no protest, but also because it shows other countries, who secretly envy the control the Communist Party exercises over its population, the way forward. Blocking VPNs could be among the measures that we in the supposedly democratic West find ourselves subjected to in the not-too distant future, all in the name of security.

Will this affect Chinese companies’ ability to innovate? Not in the least. Many of them take their inspiration from services they see overseas, and then take advantage of their country’s protectionist policies to copy them at home, and which are successful largely because there is no competition. In some cases, once they have established a market at home, these companies then head out into the world, as illustrated by Alibaba.

A few years ago, all the signs seemed to be pointing toward a relaxing of control, and that at least for non-Chinese, it would be able to get round censorship by using technology. It was possible to access pretty much any page. At my classes in Fudan University I have shown pages that in theory are banned without any concern of consequences.

But the attack on VPNs suggests that censorship will be ramped up, and that the country will be subjected to greater control, a policy that seems to make little sense for a country that is supposedly trying to join the world economy.

(En español, aquí)