China bans opening new Internet cafes

In its bid to tighten the noose around the online dissidents,
China will not allow any new Internet cafes to open this year.

Xinhua News Agency said 14 government departments, including the
ministry of Culture and the ministry of Information Industry, had issued a
notice saying that in 2007, local governments must not sanction the opening of
new Internet bars.

Even as the Chinese government promotes the use of Internet for
education and business, it tries to block the public from seeing material online
that is deemed subversive or pornographic.

In January, president Hu Jintao ordered Chinese Internet
regulators to promote a "healthy online culture" to protect the
government's stability.

In spite of the government imposed screening, China's online
population grew by 23.4% last year to 137 mn people, about 10 % of its 1.3 bn
population. The figure puts China on track to surpass the US in the next two
years as the nation with the most Internet users.