China partially blocks WhatsApp services
HONG KONG: China has partially blocked the popular messaging service WhatsApp, as authorities tighten their grip on the internet ahead of a major leadership reshuffle in Beijing.
Photo, video and voice messages sent by the Guardian from Beijing were all blocked on Wednesday, but text messages were not affected.
The ban comes as officials are preparing for a twice-a-decade leadership shuffle later this year, with various factions within the Communist Party jockeying for control of key positions and President Xi Jinping likely to further consolidate power.
China operates the world’s largest censorship system, blocking thousands of websites including platforms such as Facebook, Google, Instagram, YouTube and foreign news outlets.
Xi, who came to power five years ago, has pushed for tighter government controls on what information Chinese citizens inside the country can access in the name of “cyber sovereignty”. Recent months have seen Beijing restrict live streaming video apps, online video content, celebrity news and VPNs.
In China, WhatsApp pales in popularity compared with homegrown messaging service WeChat, which boasts more than 900m users. But the American app is increasingly being used by Chinese concerned about privacy or those communicating with friends or business contacts abroad. BEIJING: The Communist Party of China (CPC) wants its members to give up religion and seek faith and belief within the party’s ideology or face punishment, the country’s top official overseeing religious affairs has said.
Writing for CPC’s top political theory journal, Qiushi or “Seeking Truth”, Wang Zuoan, the director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), said CPC members should be atheists and not have religious beliefs.
“Party members should not have religious beliefs, which is a red line for all members…Party members should be firm Marxist atheists, obey Party rules and stick to the Party's faith…they are not allowed to seek value and belief in religion,” Wang wrote.
“Officials who have religious faith should be persuaded to give it up, and those who resist would be punished by the Party organisation,” he wrote.
China is officially an atheist country but the CPC-run government recognises five religions: Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Protestantism and Catholicism.
Under China’s Constitution, citizens have the liberty to follow a religion of choice but in reality, the freedom of religion is severely curtailed. In recent years, the government has carried out crackdowns on fast spreading Christianity, besides restricting the practise of Islam in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
Wang’s pronouncement in Qiushi seems to be the latest effort to curb individual freedoms, which can be a threat to “unity” as perceived by the CPC.
His writing echoed, almost word-to-word, what President Xi Jinping had said earlier this year.
“We must resolutely guard against overseas infiltrations via religious means,” Xi had said.