Olympics: China says will not back down on Internet censorship

 

BEIJING:  China said Thursday it would not back down on Internet censorship for foreign reporters covering the Olympics, insisting banned sites were in breach of Chinese laws.
"A small number of Internet sites are blocked, mainly because they violate Chinese law," Beijing Olympic organising committee spokesman Sun Weide told reporters when asked whether curbs for foreign press would be lifted.
"We hope that foreign media will respect Chinese law in this matter."
China announced this week that it would go back on a pledge to allow foreign reporters covering the Olympics unfettered access to the Internet, sparking outrage from press freedom and human rights groups.
US President George W. Bush also weighed into the controversy.
"President Bush has long said that China has nothing to fear from greater access to the Internet or to the press or from more religious freedom and human freedom and human rights," White House press secretary Dana Perino said.
But Sun was adamant China's censorship laws were similar to other nations.
"Like other countries, China manages the Internet according to the law," he said.
"We don't allow sites that broadcast illegal news or damage our national interest."
Sites that are blocked in China include those for human rights group Amnesty International, the Tibet government-in-exile, press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders and various Chinese dissident organisations.
China's decision to renege on its pledge on a free Internet also embarrassed the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Two weeks ago IOC president Jacques Rogge said the Internet would be uncensored during the Games.
"For the first time, foreign media will be able to report freely and publish their work freely in China," Rogge told AFP then.
"There will be no censorship on the Internet."
However the head of the IOC's press committee, Kevan Gosper, said a deal had been reached with China's government, although he insisted he did not know such an arrangement had been made until events broke this week.
"There seems to be an understanding reached (between the IOC and China) that I was not aware of," Gosper told AFP.
Asked about Rogge's comments on a free Internet, Gosper said: "That's what we have all been saying but apparently another understanding at another place has been reached."