saturday, november 16 , 2019. the washington post eZ re A
BY WILLIAM BOOTH
AND KARLA ADAMLONDON — Britain’s main oppo-
sition Labour Party announced
Friday that if it wins a December
general election, its new govern-
ment will provide free, super-fast
broadband across the entire Unit-
ed Kingdom.
It was the latest eye-catching
offer in a campaign that suggests
the main parties are keen to turn
the spending taps back on after
years of austerity under the ruling
Conservatives.
“Not just any broadband, but
the very fastest,” Labour Party
leader Jeremy Corbyn promised.
“Full-fiber broadband to every
home, in every part of our coun-
try, for free.”
He was referring to the kind of
high-speed connection that al-
lows a high-definition movie to be
downloaded in less than a min-
ute.
That should appeal to British
households that pay on average
$38 a month for good but not
great Internet — as well as the
7 percent of British households
with no Internet.
Corbyn pitched his plan as one
that will make Britain more fair
and more competitive, assertingthat only 10 percent of the coun-
try has access to full-fiber broad-
band, compared with 98 percent
in South Korea.
Corbyn added: “A nd once it’s
up and running, instead of you
forking out for your monthly bill,
we’ll tax the giant corporations
fairly — the Facebooks and the
Googles — to cover the running
costs.”
He also said the transforma-
tion would take 10 years.
Labour’s gambit was immedi-
ately criticized by for-profit Inter-
net providers — and Labour’s ri-
vals in the Conservative Party —
as needless, cumbersome and
prohibitively expensive.
Conservative Prime Minister
Boris Johnson called it “some
crackpot scheme that would in-
volve many, many billions of tax-
payers’ money nationalizing a
British business.”
But whereas in the 2017 g eneral
election, the Conservatives blast-
ed Labour’s promises saying that
there was no “magic money tree,”
both parties now seem to have
found it.
With a month of campaigning
to go before the Dec. 12 elections,
the dueling parties appear to be
trying to woo voters with big-tick-
et holiday gift items.
Johnson is not only promising
to “get B rexit done” b ut to support
Britain’s “left-behind” towns, es-
pecially in the north and Mid-
lands, where his party hopes to
snatch up disgruntled Labour
voters.
His Conservatives have vowedmore spending on public services
and infrastructure projects. They
say they will pour money into the
National Health Service, improve
roads and bus services, and put
20,000 extra police officers on the
streets. (Labour points out that
since the Conservatives came into
power in 2010, the number of
police officers has dropped by
more than 20,000.)
The Conservatives also say they
will cut taxes for smaller pubs and
mom-and-pop shops.
Labour, meanwhile, is promis-
ing nothing short of a self-de-
scribed “radical transformation”
of the British economy, w ith plans
not only to provide “the gold stan-
dard” of broadband but to take
over Britain’s for-profit railways,
postal service, water companies
and energy providers. Labour is
also vowing to usher in its version
of a Green New Deal, which would
accelerate renewable energy and
phase out fossil fuels.
Many of Labour’s policies are
popular with the public, but the
party is still lagging behind the
Conservatives. Pollsters say vot-
ers are more likely to trust John-
son than Corbyn with the econo-
my, and Johnson’s personal rat-
ings exceed those of Corbyn’s.
Nigel Farage, the leader of the
Brexit Party, also gave a boost to
the Conservative Party with his
decision not to field candidates in
seats that the Conservatives won
in 2017.
But, of course, anything can
happen over the course of an
election campaign.The Conservatives got off to a
shaky start, with Jacob Rees-
Mogg, the leader of the House of
Commons, widely criticized for
comments denigrating the vic-
tims of a massive fire at Grenfell
To wer.
Johnson was also heckled by
residents in flood-hit areas when
he toured northern England this
week.
Both parties are hoping their
spending proposals will look at-
tractive in that part of the coun-
try.
To provide free broadband, a
Labour government would na-
tionalize a division of for-profit
phone and Internet provider BT,
formerly British Te lecom, the
largest player in the sector.
In its calculations, Labour esti-
mates it would cost $25 billion to
nationalize and build out the
broadband system, plus another
$300 million annually to run it.
For-profit providers countered
that Labour’s plan would not cost
$25 billion but $100 billion.
In a ddition to nationalizing the
broadband division of BT, called
Openreach, another Labour offi-
cial said it was possible that a
Labour government might take
control of the smaller players,
including Virgin Media, Sky and
Ta lkTalk.
On news of Labour’s plans,
shares of BT fell 4 percent. But the
stock quickly rebounded — in
part because analysts concluded
the takeover would never happen.
[email protected]
[email protected]British voters hear promises to spend
After years of austerity,
m ajor parties dangle free
Internet, other carrotsoli scarff/agence france-Presse Via getty images
Labour Party supporters listen Friday in Lancaster as party leader Jeremy Corbyn promises free high-speed broadband service for every
British home if his party wins next month’s election. The Conservatives are promising more public services spending and targeted tax cuts.BY GERRY SHIHBEIJING — Many international
social media websites are banned
in China, and using special soft-
ware called a virtual private net-
work (VPN) to access them can
sometimes lead to jail time.
So when a little-known Chi-
nese company announced this
week that it was releasing the
first Web browser that lets Chi-
nese users legally access Twitter,
Facebook and YouTube, more
than 200,000 users scrambled to
register, clogging up its servers
within hours. Soon after, China’s
tech-savvy circles lit up with a
mix of curiosity and suspicion.
But mostly suspicion.
The promise of Kuniao, or
Coolbird, seems tempting
enough: Chinese users can
download the browser onto their
Windows computers or smart-
phones and, using the VPN capa-
bilities built into the program,
directly delve into Facebook and
Twitter — services banned for
years by Chinese authorities who
keep a tight grip over what
information Chinese citizens can
receive.
The catch?
Kuniao users must register
their phone numbers, and their
browsing history will be tracked,
according to a version of the user
agreement posted online. Users
must also abide by a peculiar set
of terms and conditions that
seemed to echo government-
speak: They must respect “The
Seven Bottom Lines” — including
the law, the socialist system and
the national interest. And they
must adhere to “The Nine Do
Nots”: Do not o ppose the Chinese
constitution, or harm national
security, or disclose state secrets,
or subvert national sovereignty
— the list goes on.
The unusual and opaque na-
ture of the new browser has set
off a flurry of chatter among
China’s tech set.
“I’ve never seen anything like
this,” said William Long, a well-
known tech blogger based in
Shenzhen who tried to download
a trial version o f the software t his
week as soon as he heard about
it. He ultimately could not find a
registration key that worked be-
cause they were in such demand.
Although Chinese authorities
allow software d evelopers to pro-
duce VPNs for corporate use,
Long said, it is practically un-
heard of for a company to pro-
duce a VPN-enabled browser for
general use — and to publicize it
so broadly.
“This couldn’t exist without at
least a degree of government
backing,” s aid Long. “It’s a pretty
sensitive area.”
The intrigue surrounding
Kuniao seemed to deepen Friday,
when at least one news report
about the browser was censored.
Users began posting images that
suggested that the browser was
routing traffic through VPN serv-
ers operated by the Chinese tech-
nology giant Te ncent in Hong
Kong, which is not subject to
mainland Internet censorship.
The maker of Kuniao, a little-
known company in Fujian prov-
ince called Zixun Te chnology
that has previously worked in
data mining and cross-border
e-commerce, told The Washing-
ton Post on Friday that it was not
“accepting media interviews at
the moment.”
But it continued to tout its
product on China's Twitter-like
Weibo service, where it stoked
anticipation by dribbling out up-
dates and telling users, tongue-
in-cheek, to stay c alm a nd not get
overly excited about accessing
YouTube.
The vagaries of China’s vast
Internet censorship apparatus,
known as the Great Firewall,
have long been a subject of
fascination for the country’s
800 million Internet users.
In 2013, speculation that
Shanghai would open up t he
Internet i nside a designated free-
trade zone mounted for weeks
until the Communist Party’s offi-
cial newspaper issued a denial.
When officials on the tropical
island of Hainan said last year
they would relax Internet censor-
ship in resort areas to attract
foreign tourists, they were i mme-
diately met with outrage from
Chinese who called the move
unfair and “reverse racism.”
In recent years, pro-govern-
ment trolls, apparently abetted
by authorities, have flocked onto
Facebook and Twitter to leave
comments defending China dur-
ing periods of international ten-
sion. The phenomenon resur-
faced this summer, when re-
searchers saw pro-China ac-
counts flood Twitter with
comments supporting Hong
Kong’s police and criticizing pro-
testers.
As Kuniao launched a trial
version open to the public this
week, China’s technology-orient-
ed forums were awash with skep-
ticism. Some users warned oth-
ers not to download the s oftware.
Others cracked dark jokes about
the consequences.
“This software is not only
phishing for anti-Communist
Party figures, but it is also meant
for nationalist trolls,” said the
most popular post on Pincong, a
Reddit-like forum for Chinese
geeks.
On another forum, V2EX, the
top commenter offered a pithier
take: “Who dares to use this?
Someone who thinks they’ve al-
ready lived long enough?”
[email protected]yuan Wang contributed to this
report.In China, suspicion of
VPN-enabled browser
Tech-savvy w onder if
government is somehow
behind KuniaoBY MARY BETH SHERIDANMEXICO CITY — Bolivia’s exiled
leader, Evo Morales, is raising
the stakes in one of Latin Ameri-
ca’s biggest political crises, say-
ing he might return to his coun-
try and try to finish out his term
if the legislature decides to reject
his resignation.
His remarks i ndicated how the
president — an icon of the left —
was determined to continue to
play a major role in Bolivia. His
return, however, could exacer-
bate a bitter fight for power
between his supporters and op-
ponents after a disputed elec-
tion. At least 10 people have died
in clashes that have swept the
country.
Morales stepped down Sun-
day, under pressure from the
military. His ouster has divided
the c ontinent, with some viewing
him as an authoritarian who
tried to stay in power through
fraud, and others decrying a
coup.
“My resignation is in the
hands of the congress,” t he three-
term leader said in an interview
Friday in Mexico. “If they reject
it, I continue to be the president.
If they approve it, I’m not. That’s
the legal interpretation.”
He said that while he was in
political exile, he did not regard
himself as president — “although
I am eager to return to be with
the people, who are suffering a
coup d’etat.”
His party has a two-thirds
majority in congress, so it could
easily vote to reinstate him to
finish his term, which was to end
in January.
The crisis exploded after the
president claimed victory in an
Oct. 20 election that a team of
international experts blasted as
riddled with irregularities. After
the resignations of Morales and
his top allies, a senior opposition
senator declared herself acting
president in a session boycotted
by the ruling party.Demonstrators opposed to
Morales ransacked his home and
set fire to the houses of senior
members of his Movement for
Socialism. His supporters were
accused of burning the homes of
government critics.
After years in which Morales
sought to elevate the stature of
the country’s sizable indigenous
population, there has been a
backlash from lighter-skinned,
more affluent Bolivians. Police
officers have torn patches cele-
brating the country’s indigenousheritage from their uniforms,
and protesters have burned in-
digenous flags. Morales was the
country’s first indigenous presi-
dent. Some indigenous Bolivi-
ans, however, turned against Mo-
rales for clinging to power.
Morales said Friday that he
was not planning to compete in
the do-over election expected in
the next few months. He said he
hoped that the United Nations
would lead a mediation effort
bringing together his movement
and its opponents.“Our main desire is pacifica-
tion” of the country, Morales
said. “We want to work with our
legislators, and those of the op-
position, to establish the basis
for a dialogue.”
But he made clear that, al-
though he had fled Bolivia on a
Mexican military jet, he was not
planning to abandon his influen-
tial role in his country.
“Our fight is for justice, and
our plan is to return to bring
peace and to reach an agreement
with the right wing to help the
Bolivian people move forward,”
Morales said.
He made clear he saw the
political crisis not as a simple
electoral dispute, but a clash of
ideologies and economic inter-
ests. Morales was seen as a
pragmatic socialist, presiding
over years of strong economic
growth and poverty reduction.
His supporters “don’t accept
coups, nor the economic policies
of privatization” of state indus-
tries that are backed by conser-
vatives, he said. “This isn’t about
Evo; the public is facing a debate
about the economic model.”
Morales’s return to Bolivia
could sharply increase tensions.
A staunchly conservative op-
position senator, Jeanine Áñez,
has been recognized as interim
president by the United States
and several other nations. The
country’s constitutional court
has said she did not require
congressional approval to take
office.
She said Friday that Morales
could come back to Bolivia — but
if he did, he could face charges.
“He has to answer to justice
for electoral fraud,” s he said.
Morales’s bid for a fourth term
was highly controversial; he losta popular referendum seeking to
run again, although a court later
permitted his candidacy. His op-
ponents cried foul when Mo-
rales’s support surged near the
end of the vote count.
Morales invited a team of
technical experts from a hemi-
spheric group, the Organization
of American States, or OAS, to
review the vote. They issued a
preliminary report Sunday list-
ing numerous irregularities —
including phony signatures on
vote-tally sheets, and “clear ma-
nipulation” of the computer sys-
tem used to transmit vote totals.
In the interview, Morales re-
jected any responsibility for the
irregularities.
“I’ve never asked the institu-
tions of government to help me.
I’ve always asked for respect for
the institutions and legality. I
never ordered fraud,” he said.
Despite the flawed election,
Morales has been hailed as a
hero in Mexico. Its leftist presi-
dent, Andrés Manuel López Ob-
rador, sent a military jet to fetch
him, and has provided him with
bodyguards and housing on a
military base.
Under Bolivian law, new elec-
tions are supposed to be sched-
uled within 9 0 days. Morales s aid
he thought it would be difficult
to pull that off — “because the
people are m obilized to reject t he
authorities” currently in power.
Still, he said, it was important
to reach some sort of mediated
agreement with his opponents.
“If there’s no agreement with
the right wing, Bolivia will be
ungovernable,” he said.
[email protected]rachelle Krygier in miami
contributed to this report.Evo Morales says Bolivian congress will decide whether he is still president
eduardo Verdugo/associated Press
Former Bolivian president Evo Morales resigned Sunday under mounting pressure from the military
and the public after his r eelection victory triggered fraud allegations and deadly protests.Exiled leader says if his
resignation is rejected,
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