Special to WorldTribune.com

By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com

The Beijing leadership has signaled tighter control over the Internet on the occasion of the First World Internet Conference, whose ostensible goal is to promote inter-connectivity between China and the world via the Net.

For three days – Nov. 19 to 21 – censorship on Google, Facebook and Youtube was lifted in the city of Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, where the conference was held.

Hard-line messages by Chinese leaders indicated, however, that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) still regards the Internet as a dangerous medium through which “anti-China hostile forces” could try to subvert what President Xi calls “people’s self-confidence in socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

In a congratulatory message to the conference, which featured speakers such as Alibaba’s Jack Ma and Baidu’s Robin Li, Xi noted that “the development of the Internet has posed new challenges to national sovereignty, security and development interests.”

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