Geopolitics

politics

China is partially opening up the internet in one of its provinces, as a move to boost business and attract tourists. Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Hainan plan to allow a limited number of users access to the global internet without state censorship as part of an experimental program. This was reported by the South China Morning Post. The initiative is a pilot program in the island province, which aims to become a global free trade port.

Due to the country’s comprehensive internet censorship system, Chinese citizens do not have access to services and websites that are key to the rest of the world, such as Google, X, Wikipedia, Zoom, YouTube, and others. The unauthorized sale and use of VPNs to bypass restrictions is illegal in China.

Hainan is being used as an experiment in opening up across the board. When I went to China last month, I was surprised that Hainan specifically offered short term visa free travel for 59 countries. 

As an island province in the South China Sea, it has always been somewhat detached from the mainland politically as much as geographically.