World / Asia-Pacific

Published: September 4 2002

Google, the internet search engine, on Wednesday said it was attempting to open discussions with China aimed at reversing the apparent blocking of the site by the world's most populous country.

Beijing declined to confirm that it has blocked Google, which gets about 150m hits a day in China, [...] . The Chinese authorities regularly block access to foreign newspapers and other Internet sites which promote the cause of groups it [persecutes], such as the banned spiritual [group], the Falun Gong and Chinese pro-democracy groups.

Google is especially popular in China because of its ability to run searches in Chinese, and also offer partial access to some blocked sites.

The blocking may be prompted by the upcoming November meeting of top communist party leaders, a politically tense period that always results in tighter security and policing. The Chinese media has already been ordered by the party to promote a "healthy" atmosphere in the lead-up to the congress and keep secret the new leadership line-up to be announced in November.

The blocking has angered Chinese internet surfers, who officially number more than 45m, and prompted a flood of emails advising people on how to get around the ban. Many users use so-called "proxy servers" - servers which are hosted outside of China - to gain access to blocked sites, but increasingly, China's internet police are finding ways to close them down as well.

China recently issued the so-called "public pledge on self-discipline for the China internet industry" to require signatories, including foreign providers like Yahoo, to keep information off their sites that might "jeopardize state security and disrupt social stability".

Harvard Law School researchers have reportedly launched a project to test the firewalls used by countries like China and list the sites which are being blocked.

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Category: Falun Dafa in the Media