Cyberspace controls set to strengthen under China’s new internet boss

The new chief of China’s powerful internet regulator has vowed to “unswervingly” strengthen Communist Party control over the world’s largest online population.

Zhuang Rongwen, who last month was appointed as director of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), this week put forward an all-encompassing blueprint on how to govern the Chinese internet, which now has 800 million users – more than double the entire population of the United States.

In the latest edition of Qiushi, or Seeking Truth, the ruling party’s flagship bi-monthly journal on political theory, Zhuang stressed the party’s leadership over the governance of the internet. He pledged to uphold the president’s “core” status and to double down and improve the promotion of Xi Jinping Thought online.

The article followed the high-level conference, held every five years, to focus on propaganda and ideology work, where Xi urged officials to improve their ability to utilise and govern the internet.

‘Unify minds’: President Xi Jinping makes ideological rallying call to China’s Communist Party propaganda cadres

Under Xi’s administration, the party has already tightened its grip on the internet, silencing even the moderately critical voices that were previously tolerated as the Chinese web emerged as a relatively politically vibrant space with social media platforms including microblogs.