China has banned the ABC website for violating China’s laws and regulations but has not specified any breaches.
According to a report by the ABC, an official from the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission said: “China’s internet is fully open. We welcome internet enterprises from all over the world to provide good information to the netizens of China.
“However, state cyber sovereignty rights shall be maintained towards some overseas websites violating China’s laws and regulations, spreading rumours, pornographic information, gambling, violent terrorism and some other illegal harmful information which will endanger state security and damage national pride.”
An ABC spokeswoman declined to comment on the ban.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, did not appear to be concerned by the report.
“Well, I mean, the ABC is funded to broadcast in Australia, so we’re in control of that,” Morrison told 3AW radio on Monday.
“China’s a sovereign country. They make decisions about what happens there. We make decisions about what happens here.”
A possible clue to the decision may lie in the government’s decision to bar Chinese telcos Huawei and ZTE from supplying equipment to Australia’s 5G network, a move which angered the Chinese government.
The decision was made during the Liberals’ leadership ructions last month and a day later the ABC website was shut down in China.
We have been informed by the Govt that Huawei & ZTE have been banned from providing 5G technology to Australia. This is a extremely disappointing result for consumers. Huawei is a world leader in 5G. Has safely & securely delivered wireless technology in Aust for close to 15 yrs
— Huawei Australia (@HuaweiOZ) August 22, 2018
“The Australian government has made the wrong decision and it will have a negative impact to the business interests of China and Australia companies,” China’s commerce ministry said in a statement on its website.
When the Coalition pulled the funding for ABC International’s Australia Network in 2014, the broadcaster restructured to a magazine-style web portal called AustraliaPlus.cn. The advertiser-funded service, which was more lifestyle than news, was closed in recent months.
But the Chinese people were given access to more Australian news in 2016 when the broadcaster’s international arm opened a full Chinese news service in Mandarin that was hosted in Australia but available to the whole region online.
The news service was the recommendation of a review that said the ABC should promote the Mandarin language, as well as Bahasa-language content for Indonesia and extra services for Pacific audiences, as part of its soft diplomacy efforts.
The ABC has had a checkered relationship with its content in China. In 2016 the ABC admitted its international web portal AustraliaPlus.cn failed to abide by the ABC’s own editorial policies when a journalist removed content critical of China from several news stories.
ABC management said key facts were removed from the Chinese version of ABC Online content, an act that is in breach of the ABC’s editorial policies and the guidelines that producers at ABC International are governed by.
The ABC recently has relaunched its international television service under the new brand ABC Australia, part of a suite of services the ABC provides to international audiences, including ABC Radio Australia and digital services. The TV channel offers coverage of national events, such as Anzac Day, Stargazing Live and Tropfest, as well as an Australian perspective on global events.