Kerry meets Chinese bloggers squeezed by Internet controls

BEIJING — Chinese bloggers urged US Secretary of State John Kerry to push for greater freedom online in China during a rare meeting in Beijing Saturday, asking for help to "tear down the great Internet firewall".

The roundtable discussion, organized by the US Embassy, was a unique opportunity for the top diplomat to hear directly from China's bloggers amid reports that Beijing is stepping up its efforts to clamp down on political dissent.

The meeting came a day after Kerry held talks with senior Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during which he called on Communist Party authorities to improve their human rights record.

Zhang Jialong, a reporter at Tencent Finance who was one of four bloggers taking part in the discussion, urged the United States to support "Chinese who aspire for freedom" and help "tear down the great Internet firewall".

Zhang also accused US companies of helping China block access to social networking sites such as Twitter and the Internet in general.

Kerry said he had not heard of such moves, but promised he would check.

In the 40-minute meeting, Kerry also heard from Ma Xiaolin, a former journalist at Chinese state news agency Xinhua, who said that the Internet was his main form of communication.

He complained about the limits on Internet freedom in China, and urged Washington to use its sway to ease the squeeze.

Kerry told reporters Friday that in his discussions with the Chinese leadership he had a "frank discussion about some human rights challenges... and the free flow of information in a robust, civil society" which included some of "the challenges of the cyber world that we live in today".

"I emphasized that respect for human rights and for the exchange of information in a free manner contributes to the strength of a society in a country," he told reporters after his meetings in Beijing.

Chinese microblogs similar to Twitter have become key drivers of public opinion in recent years, with bloggers drawing attention to official corruption, pollution and other issues that challenge China's ruling Communist Party.