The (express)VPN may be easier to block on mobile phone networks as I to have my Windows desktop working pretty decent but not the iPhone.

A mobile VPN and broadband VPN use different techniques for connections. Due to the phone being in motion it constantly changes IP address (even if it does show as 1 IP) unlike the broadband technique which of course has a stable IP address.

I did read it is possible that your mobile phone carrier can stop the use of VPN connections over its data network. Which sounds a highly likely new strategy the government may have enforced and what could be a right pain if true.

I haven't been able to activate my new account. It has been days now... and without it I can't even go to the Express website to ask for help... what on Earth is going on?!

try contact details here customercarecontacts.com/[...] it incl email addres. i use different vpn , but always keep an email from customers service in mail box and just reply to that if i need help next time i cant log in.

Yep, no ExpressVPN on my mobile right now. Hoping it’s only temporary.

Surely, if they were to block VPNs on mobile devices, that would have a negative impact on Western business communications and operations. In turn, they would up and leave or otherwise be forced to use WeChat and/or other Chinese providers and be perpetually monitored.

Couldn’t/wouldn’t major Western business corporations threaten to pull business out of China if they were to implement sterner VPN regulations?

They could but they won't.

The issue for business would really be for those that need VPNs to operate secure networks for data transfer.

These are the companies that run their own VPNs, for example the banks. This is totally different to how you would use the shopping basket.
Buying online across borders already has barriers. There are some companies in Hong Kong that I cannot their websites from within Mainland China, although I can access them from EU. I can only assume that they don't want the China business. There are also Chinese websites that I cannot buy from if I use a server outside of the Chinese mainland. There are companies outside China that don't want to deal with or ship to China, this may or may not be due to regulatory barriers.

I have to use a VPN to access Australian university websites, if they succeed in blocking them completely it's going to be very annoying, since even our tests are online. If I happen to still be here and trying to study online I may have to leave. I also have a friend running a Yunnan tourism business who needs to use google to advertise to foreigners overseas so not sure what they will do, I think there must be

a lot of Chinese companies like that. Oh well will wait and see, I imagine my Chinese will improve if they block more foreign websites.

China's new internet regulations clearly state that legitimate VPN connections will be allowed also in future.

That means VPN connections that the bigger companies (like banks that tigertiger mentioned, and other multinationals) have from their China offices to their headquarters abroad over leased lines or other private setups.

The argument from Chinese side seems to be that VPN crackdown does not affect such legitimate enterprise level connections, and therefore the effect on businesses will be limited to so small entities that they don't need to care - it will not collapse the economy.

But of course it will hurt startups and individuals who cannot afford such heavy solutions.

To solve that, personally I suspect that they will eventually create a VPN business of their own (another SOE), with VPN client that allows access to more foreign websites but also gives them tools to monitor what each user does on the connection.

@JanJal: So they'll privilege businesses and control people, is that it? Seems a common practice in most places.

@Alien: Well I think that everything in China derives from the party wanting to stay in power.

I suppose some claim that the equivalent of the party, elsewhere where such single party systems do not exist, is some generic "establishment", and in that sense those countries could seek to control their respective people to maintain that establishment.

Of course situation is quite different in countries where establishing new parties and seeking supporters, political control, and replacing the old establishment with new establishment is a little easier than in China.

As for privileging businesses (I guess you mean over individuals?), in matter of VPNs, I think that if international trade, related economic matters, and development of domestic science and technology etc were not an issue at all, China could have blocked ALL foreign websites years ago already.

From that perspective, I guess the issue is how much do common people in China contribute to anything that makes VPNs necessary.