China will Censor Internet During Olympic Games

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Chinese government confirmed Wednesday what free-speech advocates loathe to hear: Reporters covering the Olympic Games won’t be able to access Web sites that China deems politically sensitive.

Internet censorship is standard for China’s citizens, but China vowed seven years ago to allow journalists unfettered access during the Olympics. The backpedaling means about 20,000 reporters and technicians that will flood Beijing next week for the Olympic Games will be working with a handicap.

“The Olympic committee should have understood in the first place that censorship is a core strategy the Chinese government uses to maintain control. The IOC was naive to think China would relinquish that control, if only for a week,” said Leslie Harris, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology. “It is very disappointing. I am as disappointed in the IOC as I am in China.”

Condemnation for China’s Policies

Reporters Without Borders is condemning the IOC’s acceptance of Chinese authorities’ decision to block access to certain Web sites at the Olympic Games media center in Beijing. The organization also condemns the IOC’s inability to prevent this situation.

“Coming just nine days before the opening ceremony, this is yet another provocation by the Chinese authorities. This situation increases our concern that there will be many cases of censorship during the games,” the organization said. “We condemn the IOC’s failure to do anything about this, and we are more than skeptical about its ability to ‘ensure’ that the media are able to report freely.”

Sun Weide, the chief spokesperson for the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, said the authorities would only guarantee “sufficient” Internet access for accredited media.

Many Broken Promises

Beyond the Internet censorship, Chinese authorities have broken their promise to improve the country’s human-rights situation and betrayed the core values of the Olympics, according…