As human beings, everyone has natural rights. The removal of any of these rights would not only render life pointless, but also be dehumanizing and unjust. One of these rights is the right to interact with other people in the world. After all, there is not much point in living with seven billion other people in the world without being able to interact with them. Even the Bill of Rights, which was written as “protection for individual liberties,” recognizes the right of “freedom of speech” and the “right of the people peaceably to assemble” (Bill of Rights).  While this document is unique to the United States, there is no doubt that these rights are undeniable of any person. Nonetheless, these rights are being denied in China. As the government increasingly puts bans on foreign websites, it makes it increasingly difficult for its citizens to exercise this right to communication. As previously mentioned, it would be unjust and dehumanizing to deny a person’s right to interact with others; this is exactly what the Chinese government is doing--stripping the natural rights of people to interact with the outside world by rebuffing foreign websites.

There are those, however, who argue that the actions of the government are not harmful and are only conducive to the domestic communication. They also say that as a result of these bans, China’s economy has grown. Those who point this out are not incorrect; due to China’s ban on foreign social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter, the economy of domestic social networking businesses and internal interaction has flourished. For example, in 2010, Facebook “clones,” or similar social networking sites, “[boasted] 100 million users between them” (Why Does China Block). While this obviously did not compare to the “350 million active users” of Facebook in 2010, the populations of those clone sites only continue to grow (Facebook: Facts & Figures). Similarly, Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, has seen a considerable “increase of 36% year over year”  of monthly active users (Team, CIW). This number trumps Twitter’s increase of monthly active users by a sizable six percent (Twitter). Indeed, the domestic interaction of China has grown quickly due to the ban on foreign sites, and this growth has directly affected the strengthening of the economy. However, the people that focus on this growth fail to zoom out and understand how this all of this internal growth is actually important. On a global scale, China houses about 1,400,000,000 people or 19.24% of the world population, and while China’s growth in domestic communication and websites is certainly favorable, it is somewhat a moot point if the rest of the world is unable to interact with almost a fifth of the world (China Population).  This treatment seems a bit unfair to the citizens of China as well. With these bans, they won’t be able to connect with others around the world, denying their rights of to interact and communicate with others in the world. Unarguably, these bans on foreign websites are only violating the natural rights of people around the world.

China’s stripping of its citizen’s rights to use foreign sites is unjust in that it shuts its people off from the outside world, thereby hindering the exercise of natural rights of people. Many people highly depend on interaction, and people would further develop if China were to help its population join in on this. In the world today, many businesses and people use websites and social media to interact with consumers and sellers. In a National Small Business Association survey done in 2013, it was concluded that 82% of small businesses had and actively maintained websites (2013 Small Business). Clearly, a vast amount of businesses rely on online websites. Not only are there a large number of businesses that use websites, but an exponentially increasing number of businesses are also using social media sites such as those banned in China. In 2013, 27 percent of small businesses did not use social media sites. This number has dropped greatly compared to the 53 percent that did not use social media three years ago (2013 Small Business). Undoubtedly, the world is globalizing and every second, and it needs to interact with others more and more. By banning foreign sites, China has denied people’s and businesses’ right to interact. Not only are these rights denied, but the world strongly depends on China’s interaction. As China holds “two trillion U.S. dollars in foreign reserves” and has a “200 billion U.S. dollar sovereign wealth fund,” many people “perceive China as a potential economic saviour” (China as a Global Player).  Even China’s own “businesses and professionals [have expressed that] it has become increasingly difficult for them to communicate with customers and suppliers.” These “dissidents, researchers, businesses, and professionals have long used V.P.N.s to access information beyond China’s borders” (China’s Self-Destructive) proving that internally, China very much depends on outside interaction to thrive. Of course, foreign people have also spoken out about this issue. In a survey of foreign companies with offices located in China, “eighty-percent of the respondents said their businesses had been negatively affected by the blocking of certain websites” (China's Internet Restrictions). There is no question that China’s blocking of foreign websites has caused a major issue for everyone. In this highly globalized world, people thrive on people more than ever, and these policies are unjust and deny citizens, people, businesses, professionals, and everyone alike the right to interact and develop themselves.

Fundamentally, this removal of the ability to interact with foreign peoples is not fair treatment and disregards the natural rights of people. China is a global player and is essential to the world; in this highly modern and technological world today, it can not be shutting itself out from others by banning foreign websites as people not only depend on interaction, but also have naturally given rights, which need to be respected. If China chooses to ban foreign sites, then they choose to ban natural rights. The government needs to remove these bans on foreign sites in order to respect the right to interaction to its citizens. Should these bans not be removed, then the right of interaction shall continue to be infringed upon.

Works Cited
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