China Rejects Sharing Great Firewall with Pakistan

Islamabad: China has declined Pakistan’s request to share its Great Firewall software, dealing a significant blow to Islamabad’s efforts to control political dissent online, according to a journalist’s claim. The refusal from China comes amidst a nearly week-long outage of X, formerly known as Twitter, in Pakistan.

China and Russia have formidable firewalls in place to heavily censor internet access for their domestic audiences. Journalist Azaz Syed revealed on a TV show that the Pakistani government had attempted to acquire the Great Firewall software from China, but Beijing refused due to concerns that the technology could be replicated by the United States.

Pakistan had sought to utilize the same firewall technology as China, but discussions did not progress further after China’s refusal. Currently, Pakistan relies on a web monitoring system purchased from a Canadian firm in 2018 during Imran Khan’s government. The system is undergoing a significant upgrade, as confirmed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority in January.

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China’s Great Firewall is known for its effective control over internet access, utilizing a combination of information technology and legislation. The firewall operates by examining TCP packets for specific keywords or sensitive words. If detected, access to the content is blocked, and further links from the same source may also be restricted.