China dismisses Kerry's criticism of internet freedom

February 17, 2014

Days after US Secretary of State John Kerry asked Chinese leaders to support Internet freedom, Beijing today retorted by asking why he did not mention whistleblower Edward Snowden in a meeting with its bloggers.

Dismissing Kerry's call to support internet freedom as "naive", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: "How can there be so-called bloggers in China without the leap forward development of China's internet?"