Posted on 11/03/2001 2:23:43 PM PST by American_Patriot_For_Democracy
BEIJING: China has shut down nearly 2,000 Internet cafes in a three-month "inspection" to regulate Internet providers, state-run media reported on Thursday.
Another 6,000 Internet cafes have been ordered to suspend operations while they "make changes," the Xinhua news agency said, without elaborating.
An operation was launched in April to "regulate" access to the Internet in line with regulations set down by the ministries of information industry, public security and culture, as well as others, Xinhua said.
Since the launch of the operation, more than 56,800 Internet cafes have been inspected across the country. During the check, the ministry of information industry had suspended issuing any new licences to web cafes, according to the news agency.
Internet bars have mushroomed in China since the late 90s and the number of Internet users has soared in the past two years.
The number of people online surged 152 percent to 22.5 million people by the end of last year, from just 8.9 million at the end of the 1999.
In June, the number of Internet users rose to 26.5 million people, but the figure indicated the breakneck growth seen over the past two years had slowed, media reported.
The communist authorities have imposed draconian measures to keep out undesirable websites which have collectively been dubbed the "Great Firewall of China."
And President Jiang Zemin this month called for tighter controls against "pernicious information" being spread online.
While the Internet had contributed to the economic growth of China, it had also brought problems of "superstition and pernicious information", he said.
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