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Huanqiu Assails How Freedom House Ranks China on Internet Freedom

Freedom House recently issued the "Freedom on the Net 2014" report, which states that, around the world, the freedom of the Internet continues to backslide, with China, Syria, and Iran ranked at the bottom of the 65 countries and regions that the U.S. human rights organization monitors. As a routine practice, China’s state newspaper Global Times (Huanqiu) retaliated with criticism against Freedom House. Its response follows.
"Western media reported that most of the funding for the organization (Freedom House) is from the United States government and it has a close relationship with the Department of Defense."
"Now that Transparency International’s recently published 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index dropped China’s rank by 20 places, this is another act of Western organizations to make China sick by using ridiculous rankings. However, because this approach completely disregards the bottom line, the intention of these ideological attacks is easily discernable. Such a negative ranking of China has ruined the reputations of Western organizations among the Chinese People."
"After all, Freedom House’s accusation about China’s lack of network freedom is a reflection of the old-fashioned differences in values and politics between the West and China. Such an accusation can also expand to include ‘lack of press freedom,’ ‘deterioration of its human rights record,’ and so on."
"The U.S. based Freedom House takes a country that has achieved one of the most effective developments of the Internet around the world and ranks it third from the bottom. It’s hard to tell whether this is a real shame of China, or of its own. In any case, the Chinese people’s care for the freedom of the Internet is far more than the ‘concerns’ of some Western organizations. Let’s guess: Freedom House is just a front for the United States to influence China’s own policy."
Source: Huanqiu, December 6, 2014
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2014-12/5229589.html