The ideological war playing out on China's internet

 

As China's leaders gather in Beijing this week for the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), an ideological war is under way on the country's internet.

Some experts predict President Xi Jinping will use the meeting to establish a level of control and influence over the Party not seen since Mao Zedong, the strongman founder of the People's Republic. 

 

 

While the internet has always been a key battleground for the Party, the past 12 months have seen a marked increase in censorship, with new laws and regulations targeting online expression even in areas or on certain topics where dissent was once tolerated or passed undetected. 

 

Since he came to power in 2011, Xi has sought to reshape the country in his image, advancing a new ideology to replace the waning relevance of Communism and Mao Zedong Thought in a country where state capitalism and an all-encompassing focus on making money is the norm. 

 

"Unlike any other Chinese leader since the reform era, (President) Xi Jinping has worked on forging a uniquely Chinese national narrative," write the authors of a new study by the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS). 

 

At the same time, the Party has "taken drastic measures to suppress ideas it considers hostile."

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