Part 6/11:
While the regime aspires to create a more tightly controlled information environment, it stops short of North Korea's level of total Internet isolation. Nonetheless, the trend is towards increased censorship and surveillance, which Chinese netizens colloquially refer to as the country becoming a "West Korea" — a hybrid of Western economic openness and North Korea-style censorship.
China’s Leverage Over North Korea and the Russia-Ukraine Context
A key focus of the discussion was China's influence over North Korea, especially amid the recent reports of North Korean troops heading into Russia for training and possible deployment on the front lines of Ukraine.