China Blocks New York Times Web Site

Unclear If Move Was Meant To Filter Specific Content Or Simply Reassert Gov't Censorship Powers

(AP)  China has blocked access to The New York Times' Web site, the newspaper said Saturday, days after the central government defended its right to censor online content it deems illegal.

Computer users who logged on in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou received a message that the site was not available when they tried to connect on Friday morning, the paper said. Some users were cut off as early as Thursday evening, it said.

The Web site remained inaccessible from Beijing Saturday.

It was not clear whether the move was meant to block specific content on the newspaper's Web site or whether it was a return to stricter censorship of the Internet in general. Beijing loosened some media and Internet controls during the 2008 Summer Olympics - gestures that were meant to show the international community that the games had brought greater freedom to the Chinese people.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said it does not deal with Web sites. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which regulates the Internet, could not be reached for comment.

Earlier this week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao defended China's right to censor Web sites that have material deemed illegal by the government, saying that other countries regulate Internet usage, too.

During the August games, China allowed access to long-barred Web sites such as those of the British Broadcasting Corp. and Human Rights Watch after an outcry from foreign reporters who complained that Beijing was failing to live up to its pledges of greater media freedom.

The New York Times said Beijing had blocked the Chinese-language Web site of the BBC, and Web sites of Voice of America, Asiaweek, and Ming Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper, earlier in the week. But apart from Ming Pao, the sites were all accessible Friday, it said.

Ming Pao's online site was still inaccessible Saturday in Beijing.

China has the most online users in the world with more than 250 million, but it has also put in place a sophisticated system to police Web sites for sensitive material and routinely blocks sites that support Tibetan independence or the region's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

A spokeswoman for The Times, Catherine J. Mathis, told the paper that there did not appear to be a technical issue. Users in Japan, Hong Kong, and the U.S. were also not experiencing difficulties, the paper said.

[lilly1232]

Before they are done China will be remaning this country.

[lochlan-2009]

And China is doing their first Naval deployment, for the good of course, to the Atlantic to stop the pirates. Americans with their heads up their assses.

[flsunjnky]

Yea, and bring those jobs back to America.

[gogam]

The best way to influence China is by arranging the country''s leaders and leading party to lose "face" (a kind of disrespect similar to shame) if they fail to accomplish something. They will listen when topics influences their internal economic problems, national unity issues, their reputation on the global stage and other soft indirect approaches. Hardliners need not apply.

[gogam]

@ OneworldUSA:

You don''t understand economics and don''t understand globalization which EVERY company must face in order to survive. Do you shop at Wal-mart? Do you buy Japanese goods? Do you buy German goods? I can go on. All these other countries have their manufacturing bases in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia,etc. It''s all intertwined. Linked like a chainmail.
Spare us your boycotting diatribes. You just dont get it.
Unless you live alone in the woods and have no outside contact then you can suggest other Americans to boycott and make their choices similar to you. Otherwise, you''re a hypocrite.
Companies exist to do what? Answer that question? Who benefits? Taxes, wages, pensions, donations, charities...do you think these all can exist WITHOUT PROFITS?

[oneworldusa]

I suggest we declare that we ban melamine and lead from China. In fact, while corporate CEOs might be happy to utilize cheap labor in China to produce their inferior goods to pad their own pockets so they can SELL to Americans but not EMPLOY them, WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? Why is Washington allowing US companies to do business in a Communist nation?

Chinese goods have killed our pets, poisoned our children and even killed their own. When are people going to finally stop buying goods with the Made in China label?

[blackyowe]

That is pretty rotten.

[terrorislame]

More than likely the NYT is way to liberal for the Chinese.

Posted by ken1dall at 05:38 PM : Dec 21, 2008
Yes,Newspapers help liberate people,...It is a way for the Chinese people to read about and practice human rights as we know them.
( BTW,I think they meant " too liberal ",but,they are probably a product of ShrubCo. or Rushpharm thinking,..)

[barbaram99]

That is a NANNY govt that won''t let the people think for themselves. They have no rights. Sad.

[harp1963]

The only reason we have free trade with this garbage communist nation (thanks for more good leadership George Bush) is so people that already have hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank can have more by building American factories in China to use their slave labor, pollute all they want, and destroy the country, America, that gave them the opportunity to prosper in the first place.

[ken1dall]

More than likely the NYT is way to liberal for the Chinese.

[trplback]

Our foreign policy has got to start with, "what goes around comes around"....We are open and do the right things to help foreign companies/ governments build their economies....BUT...foreign governments have to treat us the same. We leave their web sites up...the leave our web sites up...they close/block ours we close/block theirs. We get in trouble when we expect our companies/exporters to deal w/foreign government rules instead of the US government dealing w/them.

[ozonmojo]

The media in most of the Western countries has lost its objectivity and thereby its respectability.It is no longer an iconic symbol of democracy.It is therefore no longer so shocking to see a communist country like China obstructing an American newspaper website.

[McHineguy]

The point I was making was the U.S. forces businesses operating in the U.S. to take care of Americans from everything to a minimum pay to workplace safety. Businesses should not be allowed to ignore safety rules and standards and set up unsafe sweat shops in foreign countries and then when foreign workers are injured from these unsafe practices are forgotten and ignored. I don''''t consider that taking care of or looking after poor foreigners, its taking advantage of them and a lack of Labor Laws!



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Posted by spinproof at 05:02 PM : Dec 21, 2008

You are right and I agree with most of the point you make. But it is a dilema when you deal with foreign labor. I have seen it first hand. If we give them wages, benefits and conditions equal to ours we create havoc in their society and huge resentment in ours. If we walk away and refuse to do business with them we deprive them of a place in the world and hate develops. Our country enjoys an extremely high standard of living and we need to protect that. But since we are the wealthy, we have a responsibility to those less fortunate. Not as give-aways, but as a hand up without pulling ourselves too far down.

I believe our economy is hurting right now because we have lost sight of these principles. We need to sponsor great growth here and then share that growth with others. But the first step is to sponsor great growth, preferably here.

[spinproof]

Me too. We just have different ideas of how best to do that. Much of the difference comes from short term ******** and long term ones. I think short term trade tariffs and barriers would help, but long term they hurt really bad because the other guy retaliates and then we trade and then, and then... You get the idea.

Posted by machineguy at 04:49 PM : Dec 21, 2008

The point I was making was the U.S. forces businesses operating in the U.S. to take care of Americans from everything to a minimum pay to workplace safety. Businesses should not be allowed to ignore safety rules and standards and set up unsafe sweat shops in foreign countries and then when foreign workers are injured from these unsafe practices are forgotten and ignored. I don''t consider that taking care of or looking after poor foreigners, its taking advantage of them and a lack of Labor Laws!

[McHineguy]

Way to go, China!!!!!

Evidently, the Chinese don''''t like the lies, distortions, propaganda and baseless slime of the loony-left liberal media any more than responsible US citizens do.

Now, what''''s the best way to block the NYT bs in the US?

/


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Posted by Obam-Baboon at 04:32 PM : Dec 21, 2008

I agree except I dont want to block anyone from speaking/expressing. No censorship. But I do wish there was a way to publicly rate the bias of so called "news" organizations. Kinda like the way we rate movies: "Mature audiences only"

[McHineguy]

It''''s fine to care about poor foreigners being out of work as long as we care about poor Americans being out of work first! I''''m for taking care of home first.



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Posted by spinproof at 04:26 PM : Dec 21, 2008

Me too. We just have different ideas of how best to do that. Much of the difference comes from short term ******** and long term ones. I think short term trade tariffs and barriers would help, but long term they hurt really bad because the other guy retaliates and then we trade and then, and then... You get the idea.

[spinproof]

So, it sounds like you want to put those poor foreigners out of work. These jobs are the best thing that have ever happened to them and their towns. Finally, real money for a hard days work. And you want to stop that so rich Americans can charge exhorbitant wages. Then they bring their money here on "vacation" and treat us like slaves.

No wonder the world hates Americans.

Posted by machineguy at 12:16 PM : Dec 21, 2008

It''s fine to care about poor foreigners being out of work as long as we care about poor Americans being out of work first! I''m for taking care of home first.

[wkgrt]

Why do we let China get away with this stuff? Because US corporations do not want to offend them - money is more important -

[fjinnw]

AMERICAN!! Does your goverment tell you all the truths ? If, yes then you are just another self blinded ignorant american.