[Beijing Diary] Is This the Only Choice for China?

South Korean portal site Naver has been inaccessible in China for several days. This occurred amid rising tensions in Korea-China relations and China’s dissatisfaction with the joint statement from the Group of Seven (G7). There is strong circumstantial evidence suggesting that Chinese authorities are deliberately blocking access and controlling information.

When asked whether the site was intentionally blocked, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs avoided a direct answer, stating, "There is no specific information. Please inquire with the relevant department." The South Korean Embassy in China also requested the Chinese government to investigate the situation, but no significant response has been reported.

A source who has lived in China for over 20 years said that Naver’s blocking is neither surprising nor unusual. Ahead of the Tiananmen incident (June 4), China typically blocks major overseas sites about a week in advance for censorship and public opinion control purposes. Although the intensity of such measures somewhat decreased after the physical quarantine measures were strengthened during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, it has returned to usual levels this year. In fact, this blackout situation holds little significance for Korean residents in China. Even before, without a virtual private network (VPN), it was impossible to access Naver cafes, blogs, or certain news websites. Currently, in addition to this, access to Naver’s news homepage, article viewing, article searching, and webtoon services is also blocked. Email connectivity is unstable, sometimes connecting and disconnecting unpredictably, and overall access feels less stable and slower than usual.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

KakaoTalk, the most widely used messenger program among Koreans, can also only be accessed indirectly through VPNs. Platforms favored by younger generations such as Google, YouTube, Instagram, and Netflix are all similarly restricted. Although there are no official statistics, it is known that many Chinese users who enjoy overseas social networking services (SNS) also use VPNs for this reason. Around major political events such as the Two Sessions (National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference) or Party Congresses, VPN censorship is often intensified, making it difficult to access anything other than Chinese sites.

Whenever China faces inconvenient situations, such as the U.S. ban on Micron product sales, it consistently chooses from a set of options: deny responsibility after retaliatory measures, target unrelated companies or individuals in ways that minimize damage to itself, or simply impose strict controls to silence the issue. Because the retaliation’s true nature is unclear and often based on forced logic with fabricated justifications, direct protests or responses are ineffective. The sudden cancellation of previously scheduled appearances of Korean entertainers on Chinese TV programs or boycott movements against Chinese celebrities who attended Korean singers’ concerts also overlap with the situation following the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

Repeated occurrences of such situations threaten China’s national dignity. Although its economic size has grown rapidly to a level that unsettles the United States, its diplomacy and politics often lose rationality and reason. The "qualitative growth" China has been advocating this year is not limited to industry and economy. Causing everyday inconveniences and humiliating celebrities cannot be considered dignified diplomatic responses.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.