During her nonpolitical visit, First Lady Michelle Obama delivered an "unmistakable" message to the Chinese government on Saturday in an address on the freedom of speech, the New York Times reported.
While speaking to the students at Stanford Center at Peking University, Obama extolled the values of free speech, especially on the Internet and in the news media. She said it provided the foundation for a vibrant society, taking a "thinly veiled swipe at China's media censorship," the New York Daily News reported.
"It is so important for information and ideas to flow freely over the Internet and through the media," Obama said, according to the New York Daily News. "Because that's how we discover the truth, that's how we learn what's really happening in our communities, in our country and our world."
On the second day of a weeklong trip to China with her two daughters, Obama spoke before Americans and Chinese at Peking University to encourage more American students to study abroad. She also talked about the value of people hearing all sides of the argument.
"Time and again, we have seen that countries are stronger and more prosperous when the voices and opinions of all their citizens can be heard," she said, according to the Times.
Obama said the United States respected the "uniqueness" of other cultures and societies.
"But when it comes to expressing yourself freely, and worshiping as you choose, and having open access to information - we believe those are universal rights that are the birthright of every person on this planet," she said.
The Chinese government keeps reins on both traditional and new media to avoid "potential subversion of its authority," according to the Council on Foreign Relations. This often entails strict media controls using monitoring systems, shuttering publications or websites, and jailing dissident journalists, bloggers, and activists.
Google, Facebook and Twitter are all blocked in China, the New York Daily News reported.
