World Business

As thousands of journalists arrive in China, authorities are blocking Web sites of Amnesty International and other groups

by Bruce Einhorn

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In the months preceding the Beijing Olympics, officials from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) assured heedful journalists they would have unfettered access to the Internet while reporting the Games. In April, for instance, IOC official Hein Verbruggen, who was head of the inspection team in Beijing this spring, told reporters the Chinese government would not impose Internet censorship on Olympics journalists.

Now, as athletes are arriving and the media center is up and running in Beijing, thousands of journalists are realizing that their fears have been confirmed: Chinese commanding scholars are veritably blocking Web sites of Amnesty International considered in the state of well for example Tibetan and Taiwanese groups. "The Chinese government won’t let the spread of any advice that is forbidden by law or harms public interests on the Internet," the official Xinhua information agency reported on July 31. "If a few Web sites are difficult to browse, it’s mainly because they have spread content that is banned by the Chinese laws," Xinhua quoted Sun Weide, the Beijing Olympics prolocutor, with respect to example observation at a press colloquy in Beijing’s Olympics media center. "The Internet is regulated according to law in China, just like in other countries."

With the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies just days away, the controversy over media access is just the latest in a series of charges from nongovernment organizations (NGOs) that Beijing has been reneging (BusinessWeek.com, 7/22/08) on its commitments to the IOC. On July 29, for bring forward as an example, Amnesty International published a state critical of the Chinese government’s human-rights address. According to an Amnesty recital, "there has been little progress towards fulfilling the Chinese authorities’ promise to improve human rights, end rather continued depravation in clew areas."

The confirmation that the Chinese government is censoring Internet access for foreign reporters covering the Games has prompted condemning fact from free-speech advocates and NGOs. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders in a description on its Web site has condemned the Chinese government’s censorship policy and the International Olympic Committee’s willingness to go along by it. "The organized being also condemns the cynicism of the Chinese authorities, who have to this time again lied," the Reporters Without Borders statement said, "and the IOC’s inability to prevent this situation because of its refusal to speak out for several years."

New York-based Human Rights Watch has also been using the countdown to the Olympics to draw suit to its concerns about Chinese persecution of critics inside the land. On July 29, the group issued a report on the command’s management of people opposed to the overthrow of housing and the eviction of residents in Beijing to make room for Games venues. Human Rights Watch focused adhering Ni Yulan, an activist whom it said the restraint will put on examination Aug. 4. "To try her on the eve of the Games is an extraordinary insult to those who profligate their homes to the Beijing Olympics and shows contempt for human-rights concerns raised by the agency of the international community," said Sophie Richardson, the NGO’s Asia advocacy director, in a Human Rights Watch statement.

Not all NGOs are angry with the Chinese commonwealth, however. While Beijing’s air pollution (BusinessWeek.com, 7/28/08) remains a serious make anxious, with smog still sometimes blanketing the city, Greenpeace in a recent report praised some of the dominion’s work to take a step forward the environment before the Games. "A number of Beijing’s achievements represent best environmental practice," a Greenpeace reputation published on July 28 said. "In our parsing from the information available, Greenpeace found that Beijing achieved and in some cases surpassed original environmental goals," the arrange added, although the NGO’s report said leaders "in like manner missed some opportunities that could have ensured a better short- and long-term environmental Olympic legacy for the city."

For its part, Reporters Without Borders is already advising reporters unfamiliar with China how to get round the government’s censors. The at the outset item on its to-do please: Install programs such as Tor, Psiphon, or Proxify that circumvent firewalls and protect communication. "The international version of Skype (EBAY) is recommended, rather than the one available in China, which is not secure," suggests the group. "It is moreover advisable to encrypt e-mails with PGP."