The Chinese state has long shown a certain uneasiness about allowing free access to uncensored information. In light of cables sent from the American Embassy and diplomats, China's relationship with the web -- and with Google, in particular -- becomes even less certain.
According to a new report from The New York Times, these cables reveal that Chinese leadership turned against Google as they discovered search results critical of the country, the government and specific party members. Political leaders in China began pressuring Google to censor results, to downgrade the resolution of images of government property on Google Earth and more.
Some of the cables even seem to confirm that this year's infamous attack on Google, which was supposed to have originated in China, was conducted with the knowledge and support of members of the Chinese government.
One cable reads, “A well-placed contact claims that the Chinese government coordinated the recent intrusions of Google systems. According to our contact, the closely held operations were directed at the Politburo Standing Committee level.”
According to other cables, similar hacks were conducted on German government computers in 2006, something German officials disclosed to Americans in 2008.
Hacking incidents aside, China's attitude toward the web, as characterized by the cables quoted in the above-linked article, comes across as simultaneously paranoid and confident -- paranoid that freedom of information, be that web pages with politically delicate keywords or images of government buildings, would only be used negatively; confident that the Internet can and will be controlled by the Chinese government.