Reuters: China reimposes foreign media Internet blocks

BEIJING, Oct 22 (Reuters) - China's lifting of blocks on the Web sites of several foreign news organisations for a weekend Asia-Pacific summit attended by U.S. President George W. Bush proved temporary. They were back in place on Monday.

China quietly lifted blocks on the Web sites of CNN, the BBC and Reuters for meetings of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Shanghai, which culminated in the weekend summit.

Within hours of Bush flying home after the close of the biggest international gathering in China's Communist history, the Web sites were once again accessible only through third party servers located abroad and known as proxies.

China's Ministry of State Security -- widely thought to be partly responsible for blocking Web sites -- was not available for comment. The Internet Security Department of the Beijing Public Security Bureau declined comment.

STRICT CONTROLS

China, which guides its main domestic media with a heavy hand, did not unblock politically sensitive sites during APEC.

Those promoting the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, including Clearwisdon.net, remained blocked throughout.

[...]

Similarly, media control during the summit was tight, with Chinese viewers only able to watch a delayed and heavily edited version of President Jiang Zemin's news conference with Bush after their first meeting on Friday.

The live television blackout highlighted China's still strict media controls as well as lingering reservations about Bush, who came to office calling China a ''strategic competitor'' instead of the ''strategic partner'' of his predecessor Bill Clinton.

Not even foreign networks carried live coverage of the news conference due to a dispute with state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), which asked for a hefty $8,000 (66,400 yuan) fee to transmit live footage of Bush and Jiang.

Foreign television companies are no longer allowed to use their own satellite dishes to broadcast directly out of China as they did during the Tiananmen protests in 1989.

All footage must now pass through CCTV before being transmitted overseas and reports on sensitive political issues are often interrupted.

China is wary about the capacity of the Internet to undermine state-controls.

[...] Newspapers and magazines are also subject to rigorous censorship.

By strictly limiting the number of gateways to the World Wide Web, Beijing has found it relatively easy to apply blocks.

http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/regions/asia/064612.htm