The State Ministry of Industry in China has “outlawed” VoIP calling, suggesting workers use good old China telecom for their important calls out into the Capitalist wilds. According to a report, the ministry suggested that 30 million current users are using “illegal VoIP operators” and they have been given a number to call to report use of VoIP in their neighborhoods.
Generally this looks more like a power play by China Telecom and the other carriers to maintain its user base than any real concern over legality. However, it’s fairly obvious that VoIP is harder to police than POTS but considering the official Chinese carriers offer VoIP of their own, it’s pretty hard to swallow the security angle.