Throughout the Cold War, the foreign policy establishment urged engagement with the Soviet Union rather than confrontation. The Internet, for example, is often pointed out as an example of how increased trade will loosen the communists' totalitarian grip on the free flow of information, to their ultimate doom. The facts do not support such smugly self-confident expectations. Less than 1 percent of all Chinese have access to the Internet. That which is available is tightly controlled by the government.
Internet access is regulated by companies owned or controlled by the government.
Outside service providers are dependent on access to state-owned networks. To maintain access to the network, these providers must remain in the good graces of the government. In order to do business, these companies agree to limits, restrictions and the censorship of content over the Internet in China that they would never accept in this country. The government, meanwhile, continues to improve its sophisticated system of monitoring, blocking and censoring the Internet. China's government already blocks access to the websites of National Review , the Washington Post , the New York Times , the BBC, Voice of America and other foreign information sources.