China cracks down on text messaging in Xinjiang
Originally published by The Guardian, 29 January 2010
Residents punished for spreading rumours and ‘splittist’ messages within days of services being switched back on.
Authorities in China’s troubled north-western region of Xinjiang have punished residents for spreading rumours and “splittist” content via text messages, within days of turning services back on, according to local media.
Officials cut off the internet and short message services across the region after inter-ethnic violence in the capital, Urumqi, left almost 200 dead and 1,700 injured last July. At least 26 people have since been sentenced to death over the riots.
Despite the restoration of text messaging two weeks ago, and the decision to make some internet sites available – albeit with heavily reduced functionality – the authorities remain concerned about ethnic tensions.
Earlier this month, state media reported that the government had almost doubled the region’s security budget, from 1.54bn yuan (£140m) last year to 2.89bn yuan.
A report from the Xinjiang website Tianshannet, carried on another Chinese website, said one man was in criminal detention after sending messages with “splittist” content. A police spokesman said that meant the suspect would be held for up to 15 days, although he added that he was not aware of the specific case and had not read the report because it was hard to access websites from Xinjiang.
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