China holds drill to shut down

China has carried out an internet drill in order to closing down websites that are consider to be harmful.
State run media said Thursday's exercise was aimed also to force internet data centres to hand over contact details of website owners.

China already operates a strict internet censorship regime.

Analysts say it appears to be tightening controls ahead of an important political meeting later this year.

Beijing also recently began cracking down on VPNs (virtual private networks) which allow internet users to circumvent censorship and surveillance.

Thursday's exercise involved officers from the internet surveillance department at the public security ministry contacting internet data centres and asking them to target websites that host content deemed harmful, state media said.