China is to ban foreign firms from “online publishing” under new rules issued this week, as the country increasingly seeks to minimise Western influence. Chinese websites are already among the world’s most censored, with Beijing blocking many foreign Internet services with a system known as the “Great Firewall of China”.

Regulations posted on a government website, set to go into force next month, state that foreign firms “are not to engage in online publishing”. The regulations define online publishing as the provision over the Internet of books, maps, music, cartoons, computer games and “thoughtful text”, as well as other content.

The regulations say any Chinese publishers cooperating with foreign firms to provide online content would need prior approval from the body. The regulations come at a time of heightened political restrictions in China.

In recent years, censors in Beijing have moved to ban certain TV shows and movies from abroad from being shown online and authorities have decried “Western” influence on the country’s educational system.