A Fine Example of the Local Government Examining the "Root Causes" of Social Unrest

Here is a fine example of local officials cracking down on protests. Citizens are not pleased that Xiamen, which is a beautiful East Coast Chinese city across from Taiwan, is about to receive a chemical feedstock plant. Given the Chinese track record on the evironment, the plant will undoubtedly turn an otherwise attractive Chinese city into Chernobyl.

Rather than address citizens' concerns, the government cracks down on the internet. Blogs are no longer permitted to be anonymous (although the government admits it doesn't know how to implement this). There is some disagreement among local government officials about the cause of the proposed new rules. Mr. Tian, deputy minister of the local AIC missed the briefing where they explained that the new rules have nothing whatsoever to do with opposition to the new plant. Instead, Mr. Tian makes the mistake of a bit of honesty: “After the opposition [to] the PX project, the [city] government felt that it should have some control over web content”. Oops.