Censorship in China will impede its potential for economic development. How do the News / Media / Access to Information affect this - Essay Example

Censorship in China The most recent problem that is identified by the world today is the internet restrictions. Admittedly, all the nations have an interest in online commercial enterprise. However, a few nations like China have adopted such policies that are neither transparent nor fair. Chinese government thinks it is necessary to maintain its control over media through censorship. However, by doing this, the government will harm its economy. The internet censorship introduced by China will be viewed by the rest of the world only as a trade barrier.

So, evidently, as Mack points out, Chinese materials too can expect the same kind of oppression from other nations, especially from the U.S who are one of the most hurt through this policy. A simple example is the result of its experiment with Google. When it forced to surrender to its own censorship policies, Google decided to leave the nation, and shut down its search engine it hosted in China. As the Chinese users were redirected, China’s biggest cellular communications company ‘China Mobile which had Google search engine on its mobiles, had to scrap its deal with Google under government pressure.

As Wines reports in The New York Times, since Google is one of the main innovators in the technology sector, their departure means stagnation in the Chinese technology sector in the long term. Another problem as identified by Michael Schuman is the issue of productivity. It is pointed out that in the present world economy, internet is the main tool that allows people to work quickly, efficiently and reliably accessing information from around the world. As Schuman points out, despite the great IT infrastructure development China boasts of, its internet works much slower than in most other places in the world; and this, evidently will have an impact on the economy, though not visible in the short term.

Another baseless effort from China is seen in its effort to foster its R & D and innovation. However, it has forgotten the fact that a major element of innovation is information. As it lost the free flow of information from other parts of the world, it will have to suffice with what is available inside. That means what it produces will not be up to the international standards in the long term. Thus, it will lose its advantage in the world economy as a ‘low-cost producer’. In addition, as it spends lots on developing its own infrastructure instead of depending on what is available, it will not be able have the same low-cost advantage it had in the past.

Admittedly, no alien who is aware about the Chinese atrocities will be ready to visit any server or collect any information from Chinese sites. Thus, Chinese online commerce enterprise will not be able to expand beyond its own boundaries. That what China can expect is the preservation of its Communist ideologies and nothing else. In a short time, China will lose the momentum of its economic and technological growth. Works Cited Mary, Mary Bono. “China’s Internet restrictions and censorship hinder economic growth”.

The Hill’s Congress Blog. Web 14 Nov 2011 Schuman, Michael. “Can China’s economy thrive with a censored Internet?” TIME CNN, Oct 26, 2011. Web 14 Nov 2011 Wines, Michael. “Internet censorship: China may suffer long-term economic damage from closing down Google”. The New York Times, March 23, 2010. Web 14 Nov 2011