{"id":812,"date":"2014-05-25T18:06:35","date_gmt":"2014-05-25T18:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=812"},"modified":"2014-05-25T18:06:35","modified_gmt":"2014-05-25T18:06:35","slug":"chinese-blogger-fired-after-john-kerry-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/chinese-blogger-fired-after-john-kerry-meeting","title":{"rendered":"Chinese blogger \u2018fired\u2019 after John Kerry meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 25 May, 2014, 10:40am<\/span><\/p>\n

UPDATED : Sunday, 25 May, 2014, 10:40am<\/p>\n

\"19\"<\/a>
\nAgence France-Presse in Beijing
\nOnline activist and blogger Zhang Jialong (first left) in the meeting with John Kerry in Beijing in February. Photo: Reuters<\/p>\n

A Chinese blogger who called on US Secretary of State John Kerry to push for Internet freedom in China has been fired by his employer, he told AFP on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Journalist Zhang Jialong was one of four bloggers who met with Kerry in February, where he urged the United States to help \u201ctear down the great Internet firewall\u201d.<\/p>\n

Beijing tightly censors the Internet, banning websites including Facebook and Twitter with a system labelled the \u201cGreat Firewall of China\u201d, and ordering domestic Internet firms to delete content that government officials deem \u201csensitive\u201d.<\/p>\n

Zhang\u2019s employer Tencent dismissed him on Friday for \u201cleaking business secrets and other confidential and sensitive information\u201d, he said, calling it a reprisal for his meeting with Kerry.<\/p>\n

Zhang said that authorities at Tencent, one of China\u2019s best known Internet firms, told him his dismissal was prompted by the meeting, and his posting online of censorship orders issued by China\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

Directives published by Zhang included an instruction for websites to delete a video by a Taiwanese singer because it briefly showed \u201ca man on an ambulance wearing a Free Tibet scarf\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTencent told me they reached the decision after consulting with the government, so it\u2019s a political decision,\u201d Zhang said, adding that \u201cthe situation for online freedom in China is getting worse\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tencent\u2019s Beijing office could not immediately be reached for comment on Sunday.<\/p>\n

China has more than 600 million Internet users, the largest online population in the world.<\/p>\n

Its ruling party has long been engaged in a \u201ccat and mouse\u201d game with Internet users, tightening restrictions in periodic crackdowns before new forums emerge to challenge restraints.<\/p>\n

The rising popularity of microblogs in recent years has triggered a government-backed campaign to assert greater control over social media.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s Supreme Court last year said Internet users could face three years in jail if \u201cslanderous\u201d information spread online was viewed more than 5,000 times or forwarded more than 500 times.<\/p>\n

Hundreds have been detained under the regulation, according to rights groups.<\/p>\n

From http:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/article\/1519422\/chinese-blogger-fired-after-john-kerry-meeting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 25 May, 2014, 10:40a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[37,1348,222],"views":1171,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":815,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions\/815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}