Guangzhou to set up limited ‘cross-border internet’ for scientific research

Name: How China censors the internet
Uploaded: 2023-07-24T11:00:03.000Z
Duration: 2 min 33 s
Description: How China censors the internet

Pilot scheme will allow use of network in Nansha district in coordination with universities and institutes in Hong Kong and Macau

It’s part of the Greater Bay Area plan and will give students and academics access to resources currently blocked by the Great Firewall

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A pilot scheme will allow some researchers to use a cross-border internet network in the mainland Chinese city of Guangzhou. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Xinlu Liang

Published: 7:00pm, 24 Jul 2023

Guangzhou will work with universities and research institutes in Hong Kong and Macau to allow limited use of a “cross-border internet” network in the mainland Chinese city as part of the Greater Bay Area plan.

The pilot scheme will allow use of the network for scientific research in the city’s Nansha district as a way to ensure “data security” and create a convenient internet environment for scientific data in accordance with the law, according to the Guangzhou Municipal Government Affairs Data Administration.

It has sought public opinion on this and other data management issues in draft regulations released on Friday. The administration also called for Nansha district to improve its data infrastructure and promote the scheme.

The move is part of the Chinese government’s plan to link Hong Kong and Macau with Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and six other cities in the southern Guangdong province by 2035 to create a financial and tech hub known as the Greater Bay Area.

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How China censors the internet

Beijing strictly controls the internet behind the Great Firewall in mainland China, but the firewall does not extend to the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

The overarching online censorship system has been in place since the 1990s and blocks foreign sites such as Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as well as news outlets including the South China Morning Post.