Hi there netizen: nothing to fear from me unless you are a terrorist or pornographer!

The below is extracted from an article on the state-owned daily newspaper's website:

Regulation of Internet in line with world norms

Regulation of China's Internet is fully in line with international practice, and the country welcomes foreign Web businesses to provide lawful services, a top cyberspace regulator said yesterday in Beijing.

Liu Zhengrong, deputy chief of the Internet Affairs Bureau of the State Council Information Office, also said Chinese people can access the Web freely, except when are blocked from "a very few" foreign websites whose contents mostly involve pornography or terrorism.

"Regulating the Internet according to law is international practice," Liu told reporters. "After studying Internet legislation in the West, I've found we basically have identical legislative objectives and principles."

The Chinese Government has been very "positive" in supporting the Internet and has enacted only necessary legislation to support its development, he said.

Answering a China Daily question on criticism in some foreign media of Chinese websites deleting netizens' messages, Liu said it is a common practice around the world to remove "illegal and harmful" information.

Some leading US websites, including those of Yahoo and The New York Times, have explicit stipulations when it comes to posting messages in forums, he said.

For example, The New York Times website says: "We reserve the right to delete, move or edit messages that we deem abusive, defamatory, obscene, in violation of copyright or trademark laws, or otherwise unacceptable We reserve the right to remove the posting privileges of users who violate these standards of Forum behaviour at any time."

Liu said "it is unfair and smacks of double standards when (they) criticize China for deleting illegal and harmful messages while it is legal for US websites for doing so."...

...When users are blocked access to some foreign websites, it is usually because these sites contain information in violation of Chinese law, he explained...

...Penalties imposed on websites carrying illegal and harmful information have been "lenient" in China, Liu said, adding no website has been shut down in the country for providing a few pieces of such information.

"No one in China has been arrested simply because he or she said something on the Internet," he said.

Liu said the country's Internet market is huge and open, adding: "I believe more foreign businesses will benefit from the increasingly attractive market."

No, that story is not from The Onion. It's 100% irony-free China Daily verbiage.