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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GUANGZHOU 000292 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM 
STATE PASS USTR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EINT ECON PGOV CH
SUBJECT: "NETIZENS" HAVE THE GUANGDONG GOVERNMENT'S EAR 
 
(U) THIS DOCUMENT IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  IT SHOULD NOT BE 
DISSEMINATED OUTSIDE U.S. GOVERNMENT CHANNELS OR IN ANY PUBLIC FORUM 
WITHOUT THE WRITTEN CONCURRENCE OF THE ORIGINATOR.  IT SHOULD NOT BE 
POSTED ON THE INTERNET. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: If the Party Secretary can take the time to surf 
the web for ideas and useful policy proposals, so can you.  That's 
the message from Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang to his 
subordinates, following a recent highly publicized meeting with 26 
prominent south China "netizens" (active writers and bloggers in 
China's online community).  The netizens themselves view this 
injunction as long-awaited acknowledgment of the positive role they 
and the Internet have to play.  In their view, it also attests to 
the seriousness of Wang's "thought liberation" campaign.  Of course, 
it is possible that the purpose of bringing the netizens into the 
fold may be to co-opt a potential source of dissent.  End Summary. 
 
PARTY SECRETARY APPEARS TO EMBRACE "NETWORK DEMOCRACY" 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Party Secretary Wang Yang is reportedly online in a very 
public fashion, surfing the Internet for input on government policy 
and to gauge public opinion.  During a recent, highly publicized 
meeting with 26 of south China's most prominent netizens, Wang said 
he had discovered online that Guangdong netizens are "passionate 
about social issues and conscientious in safeguarding social 
justice."  He said their voice had become an important force in 
public discourse and a key reference in Party decision-making.  But 
he also cautioned that the Internet is "a double-edged sword," with 
both constructive and destructive potential.  When used with a 
correct attitude and appropriately regulated, he said, it can play a 
very positive role in society.  Wang told the netizen group that new 
"things" like "network democracy" must be embraced, not avoided. 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) The meeting itself, organized by the Nanfang Metropolitan 
Daily, south China's most fearless investigative paper (when it's 
allowed to investigate), was organized after Wang posted a personal 
Chinese New Year's greeting to Guangdong netizens in February, 
thereby publicly disclosing his online presence.  After Wang was 
unable to cope with the more than 5,000 replies that flooded his 
inbox, many of which focused on social issues and government policy, 
a Nanfang journalist proposed the idea of a meeting with netizens to 
him on the margins of the National People's Congress in March.  He 
agreed, and Nanfang's editors submitted a list of 26 candidates to 
the Provincial Government; all were approved for the face-to-face 
meeting held April 17 in Guangzhou. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Wang told the press that the meeting fostered a new channel 
through which the public voice can be heard.  He also identified 
several methods by which the interaction would continue: he would 
invite the netizens to present "their brilliant ideas" once or twice 
annually; he would encourage the Guangdong Party Committee and 
Provincial Government offices to collect the most popular online 
postings weekly and feed them to senior leaders for analysis and 
reference in their decision-making; and he would suggest to the 
Guangdong Party Committee Policy Research Office that they meet with 
netizens on an ad hoc basis to explore promising ideas.  In summary, 
Wang told the press, "a good system is more important than a good 
leader, and everyone is welcome to freely provide comments [to the 
government]." 
 
 
INNER CIRCLE OF YOUNG, TECH-SAVVY PROFESSIONALS 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The netizens who have been granted this special access all 
have day jobs: editor-in-chief of a magazine, general manager of an 
IT firm, professor, entrepreneur.  What appears to define their 
group identity is a common concern over public policy.  They are 
also generally successful, young, tech-savvy professionals who hold 
college or graduate degrees and who are in reasonably responsible 
positions for their age.  (Comment: Many have been online since they 
were students, gradually shifting away from video games and chat 
room romances to "serious" discussion forums and posting sites where 
they publish their ideas. End Comment) 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The inner circle, the leaders by virtue of the popularity 
of their online writing and ability to frame the online debate, 
consists of three Shenzhen editors collectively known as the "Three 
Musketeers": Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Shenzhen Youth Magazine, 
Huang Donghe; Editor of the 21st Century Economic Herald, Jin Xinyi; 
and Editor of Asia Weekly (Hong Kong), Guo Zhongxiao.  In 2001, the 
three pooled their private resources to establish a public policy 
discussion website called Intehoo.com, which has been one of the 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000292  002 OF 003 
 
 
primary outlets for their articles and commentary. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Huang describes Interhoo as a non-profit website aimed at 
generating solutions to public policy problems, "not just 
complaints."  Local government officials, media professionals, 
entrepreneurs, and intellectuals make up the bulk of Interhoo's 
8,000 registered members.  Registration is open and free (even to 
foreigners), but applicants are required to provide their real 
names, e-mail addresses, and contact numbers.  Interhoo does not 
fund itself through advertising; rather, the three founders split 
the annual cost of hosting the site (about 20,000 RMB per year). 
 
¶8. SBU) Frequently discussed issues on Interhoo fall into three 
broad categories: 
 
-- networking and career development; 
 
-- local public policy issues, such as development projects, traffic 
regulation, and migrant population rights; and 
 
-- national issues that effect Shenzhen, including the stock market 
and housing prices. 
 
Huang said members vigorously discussed the SARS outbreak and 
attempted government cover-up in 2003.  Recent hot button topics 
include the Olympic Games, the Tibetan riots (netizens by and large 
supported the government position), and the Sichuan earthquake (the 
debate centers on the relief effort and blame for shoddy 
construction of buildings). 
 
GOVERNMENT'S CHANGING VIEW OF THE INTERNET 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Huang and Guo told us that south China's government 
officials in the late 1990's saw the Internet as a "children's 
plaything" at best (online games), while many felt it had a negative 
influence on society, useful only for spreading rumors, negative 
propaganda, pornography, and false accusations about the government. 
 According to the two netizens, the first shift in thinking about 
the Internet began in January 2003 when Guo posted his now famous 
article "Shenzhen, Who Has Abandoned You?" on Interhoo.  The 
article, which discussed Shenzhen's fate as it appeared to be losing 
its special status among other thriving mainland cities, seemed to 
pop-up everywhere online, garnering considerable media attention. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Guo's article attracted the interest of then Shenzhen 
Mayor Yu Youjun (currently the Vice Minister of Culture in Beijing). 
 Yu and an inspection team from the State Council visited Interhoo 
to discuss public policy with its founders.  According to Huang, the 
positive nature of those discussions convinced Yu and other local 
officials to host regular "tea parties" with Interhoo to learn about 
the policy proposals generated by its members (as edited and 
presented by the Three Musketeers).  Since then, Huang said, 
government officials in south China have increasingly come to 
recognize a positive role for the Internet. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) The Three Musketeers have continued in their 
quasi-government advisory role ever since, and to a large extent, 
they continue to frame the public policy debates in Guangdong and 
much of the rest of south China.  For example, the three have 
published refined versions of their policy proposals in a series of 
books subtitled "China's One and Only Non-Government Municipal Blue 
Paper" (2004, 2006, and 2007), which has become essential reading 
for every Shenzhen bureaucrat.  The most recent article to gain wide 
notoriety was Jin's "11 Questions for Guangdong, Each Pending an 
Answer," published online in February 2008.  In the article, Jin 
attempted to pinpoint the most pressing public policy issues in 
south China.  It appears he was successful, given the article's 
popularity and Wang's recent citation of it to the media as an 
example of articles that netizens have written that have become 
important references for Party decision-making. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Huang and Guo both commented that nowadays, owing in part 
to their roles and Interhoo, government officials take online 
writers and commentators more seriously.  Most recognize the 
positive contributions they make.  Guo said netizens also now have 
much more freedom of speech, provided they stay away from "the three 
T's" (Taiwan independence, Tibet independence, and Tiananmen 
Square).  They also asserted that Wang's agreement to meet with the 
netizens is testament that this change of attitude concerning the 
Internet has found support at the highest levels of government. 
 
NETIZENS SAY WANG IS SERIOUS ABOUT THOUGHT LIBERATION 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000292  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Congenoff interviewed 4 out of 26 netizens who attended 
the April 17 meeting with Wang, the theme of which was "Liberate 
Thoughts and Brainstorm about Guangdong [Development]."  All of them 
agreed that Wang is an open-minded official who is extremely keen to 
further develop Guangdong, and that this desire is the motivation 
behind his Thought Liberation Campaign.  Huang maintained that Wang 
realizes that netizens often come up with better policy proposals 
than his subordinate officials. Guo said that Wang was surprisingly 
casual and easy-going, and his remarks reflected a deep 
understanding of network development and other technology issues. 
Their conclusion: the meeting was definitely "not just a show." 
 
¶14.  (SBU) Sunroom Information Industrial Company Deputy General 
Manager, Hu Zhaohui, whose popular article "When Will Private 
Companies Be Given National Treatment?" earned him a seat at the 
table, compared thought liberation to major movements in Chinese 
history, including the 1919 May Fourth Movement, the 1978 Reform and 
Opening Up Policy, and Deng Xiaoping's famous trip to south China in 
1992 when he called on people to be "more courageous" and "bolder" 
in carrying out economic reform.  According to Hu, thought 
liberation "is not a hollow slogan; Wang is serious about it."  If 
there were a political motive hidden somewhere behind the netizen 
meeting, Hu asserted, it would be to increase pressure on Wang's own 
subordinate's, who are supposed to be implementing his proposals. 
 
 
COMMENT - CIVIL SOCIETY OR GOVERNMENT COOPTATION? 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶15.  (SBU) Each netizen we spoke with painted Wang as an open-minded 
reformer, serious about further developing Guangdong.  It also 
became clear that they are all very happy the government finally 
seems to be taking them seriously.  Moreover, they are proud of 
their newly sanctioned role as a quasi-government think tank, and 
they clearly enjoy the media attention.  However, now that they have 
attained this elevated status, they may be more reluctant to risk 
damaging their hard-earned access by publishing unfavorable opinions 
about the man who granted it or his policies.  Wang's motives in 
meeting with them may have included precluding dissention by 
elevating the potential dissenters.  End comment. 
 
RELATED LINKS AND ONLINE RESOURCES 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶16.  (SBU) Articles referenced above are viewable, in Chinese, at 
the following url's: 
 
--"Shenzhen, Who Has Abandoned You?" Go to: 
http://home.donews.com/donews/article/3/36569 .html 
 
--"11 Questions for Guangdong, Each Pending an 
Answer" Go to: 
http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/epaper/nfds/co ntent/2008 
0229/ArticelT02002FM.htm 
 
--"When Will Private Companies Be Given National 
Treatment?" Go to: 
http://epaper.nddaily.com/F/html/2008-02/29/c ontent_3 
95899.htm 
 
¶17.  (SBU) Websites that the netizens highlighted as essential for 
understanding political, economic, and social issues in south China 
include the following: www.nanfangdaily.com.cn, www.interhoo.com, 
www.oeeee.com, www.21cn.com, www.tianya.cn, 
www.dayoo.com,www.southcn.com, and www.gznf.net. 
 
GOLDBERG